Rio: A Feathered Facade
by BrokenMechanix
Summary: Blu and all of his feathered friends meet an arrogant rocker macaw from America who comes to Rio unexpectedly.While trying to get to know this new face, Nigel has a brand new plan to capture and get revenge on the blue macaw family.Violence in later chps.
1. Run of The Mills

****Chapter 1****

**Run of the Mills**

It was a brilliant and beautiful day in the small town of Mills, Wyoming. The air was warm, the sky was clear, there was no wind, and the valiant sun beamed down onto the town from over the Rocky Mountains. Despite the fact that it was The beginning of January, there was not much snow, not even a late snow storm. It was definitely a perfect day for birds to be flying about, even if it was still technically winter. In fact, a little blue jay sat on top of a fence to a Mills Resident's backyard, enjoying herself by basking in the sun. While soaking in the sun however, the blue jay heard a gritty guitar sound off in the distance. At first, the bird shrugged it off, but it quickly became more frequent, almost if the person that was playing was only testing the instrument. Annoyed, the blue jay fly from her spot to investigate. The sounds came from a block away at a medium-sized, one-floored house that looked a little rundown and was amongst other houses of its caliber. The blue jay shook her head and flew back to the forest, which actually was not far from the area.

In the garage of the house were three young men, each had musical instruments. One man wore a yellow skater's shirt and shorts, sported black hair, was tall (about six feet), and held a fender guitar which he was tuning. This man is known as Grant Williams. The man that stood next to Grant was his brother Corbyn, a blonde bassist that wore a plain white t-shirt and baggy jeans. The other man behind both of them sat at a regular sized drum kit, twirling a drumstick between his fingers. This drummer is known as Dylan, close friends of both Corbyn and Grant and wore a black Korn t-shirt and black shorts. One noticeable difference between the two brothers and Dylan was the fact that Dylan's right arm is completely filled with tattoos.

"Alright it has been a while. Are you sure you guys are ready?" asked Grant with a doubting tone.

"Come on bro, we still practice together right? We are fine!" Corbyn cockily reassured his brother while adjusting his microphone stand.

"Yeah I guess your right." laughed Grant. "So Dylan," Grant continued, "you ready?"

"Yes. Have been for a while." Dylan informed in a monotonous tone. So instead of speaking any further, Grant started playing a E-D-A power cord rhythm on his guitar. So afterwords, Dylan played a fill to lead Corbyn into the song. Grant quickly leaned towards his mic stand and started to sing.

_"Dear mother, can you hear me whining? It's been three whole weeks since that I have left your home..." _Grant sang into his mic occasionally looking at the guitar's fret board.

_"This sudden fear has left me trembling, cause now it seems that I'm out here on my own, and I'm feeling so alone!" _As Grant sang, his brother harmonized the ending of verse with him while Dylan improvised his own fast fills into the song.

_"Pay attention to the crack streets and the broken homes. Some call it slums some call it nice! (OHHHH)" _Both Dylan and Corbyn harmonized their parts in the chorus.

_"I wanna take you through a wasteland I'd like to call my home (AHHH)...Welcome to Paradise!"_

Along with the jamming musicians, a handful of pets were in the garage as well. There was a Siamese cat, a beagle, a small boa constrictor, and two military macaws, all chatting amongst themselves. One of the macaws, was bobbing his head to the music."Um...Brann, wait are you doing?" the other macaw asked, tilting his head as he did so.

"Wait's wrong Wyatt? Come on live a little bro; you gotta just get into the music! It's been years since I've seen these three play together anyways." Brann lightly defended, smacking his brother Wyatt on his shoulder. Wyatt just laughed. "Dork." He muttered playfully.

"Wow this is awesome though." the beagle noted, looking up to the two birds. "Agreed Lily." piped in the snake and cat simultaneously. "Trey and Milo, you two should join a band." Brann teased, pointing at the snake and cat respectively. Everyone just laughed. After their laughter subsided, Corbyn played a small bass solo, then Dylan and Grant joined in. As Dylan started to make his rhythm more complex, the two brothers turned around and watched Dylan. Right before the final verse, Dylan ended the bridge with a double hand-poly rhythm between the floor tom, snare and cymbal, alternating his hands between each piece fast and fluently. After giving each other smirks, Grant and Corbyn went back to their respective mics and finished the song.

"Yeah! We still frikin rock! After two years, we still got it!" Shouted Grant gleefully as he hopped around from excitement.

"Hell yeah we do! And you guys got so much better, I can tell." Dylan added on.

Corbyn just laughed, "We didn't get into the more complex stuff we learned!"

"WOOO! That was epic!" Brann and Trey cheered as all three musicians got up. The other animals just grinned widely at their friends happiness. "Dude that drum part stole it though!" Trey added on.

"Man I miss that reaction so much." Milo said in nostalgia. Both Lily and Wyatt nodded their heads in agreement. Just then, a brunette woman walked into the room and a black-billed magpie followed her in.

"Hi Veronica." Grant said as he gave the woman a quick kiss.

"Hey guys, the pizza's here. Make it quick though, our flight back to Cali is in about three hours and it already takes an hour to get to the airport." Veronica said softly. After she finished all four humans went into Dylan's kitchen to eat. The magpie decided she'd stay and chat with her friends. When she looked at Brann however, Brann looked away nervously and blushed slightly.

"So how's your wing Sonya?" Wyatt asked politely to the dark feathered bird.

"Oh it is so much better. Veronica quickly checked it and said I could probably migrate now in like two weeks! Isn't that exciting!" Sonya excitedly mentioned, flapping her left wing rapidly.

"It's a little late to migrate isn't it?" Milo questioned, tilting his head slightly at the bird.

"Well it's an odd year. Some summer birds are still here haha." Brann informed to the confused cat.

"Dudes, I'm hungry, let's go beg for some pizza."Trey demanded.

"mmmm...that sounds good. Let's go." Lily nodded in agreement after he own stomach rumbled. Everyone started laughing and giggling as the all went into the kitchen to their owners.

* * *

><p><strong>About 6000 or so miles away...<strong>

"What an awesome...um...New Year's continuation party...again." Blu sighed. Although he did enjoy the party the Nico and Pedro threw together, he quickly became exhausted from both dancing all night and making sure his children were okay.

"Oh come on, you gotta admit it was fun Blu, I know you enjoyed our duet again." Jewel nudged Blu teasingly, batting her eyelashes slowly as her mate turned around to refute her statement. Once Blu got a glimpse of his mate, all he could do is smile.

"Yeah it was fun...but I've already done it four times this week." Blu noted while chuckling a bit, "I know Rio is a party place and it's a new year, but New Year's was a week ago and Nico and Pedro are trying to find a legit excuse for us _and the kids _to party with them without them having to babysit."

Jewel giggled at Blu's semi-flustered sentence. "Well I can't disagree with you there Blu. Speaking of our kids, I'm kinda tired after that party, let's go check on the kids and go to sleep."

Blu nodded in agreement. The two blue macaws then turned around and trotted back into their hollow and quickly fell asleep together. About an hour or so later, Blu woke up quickly, remembering that when he and Jewel went to visit Linda at the sanctuary, Linda asked if she could talk to Blu later on in the day. Although it was already dark, Blu assumed that Linda was still awake, stretched, then flew towards her new bookstore. "It's only eleven o' clock, she should still be up." Blu quietly reassured himself while on his flight. Five minutes later, Blu got to the bookstore and entered through a conveniently open window just big enough for him to fit through. When he entered, Linda was in another room, talking on the phone.

"Yeah I know, I just have to go find my little Blu and I'll go ask him. Hm? Oh yeah, he lives in the jungle now." Linda rambled on the phone as she walked into the room Blu was in. Her eyes seemed to wandered aimlessly as she talked. When she turned on the lights in the room, she saw the little blue aviator sitting on top of a computer desk, staring at a few picture frames of him and Linda. "Oh speaking of which, here he is right now. Well I guess I'll you go now. I love you mom, bye." Linda happily finished before hanging up the phone.

"Hi Blu, you actually remembered that I wanted to talk to you! How thoughtful." Linda smiled gleefully, exchanging their signature fist bump proceeded with a pet on the head. Blu squawked in compliance. The two went into the living room, which was one room away, and sat down on the sofa. "Well Blu I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to be visiting Minnesota for about three to four weeks so mom could meet Tulio and Fernando." Linda muttered softly, looking down at her chest as she spoke. When she lifted her eyes to meet Blu's, she could tell he was sad.

"Wow four weeks? Even if I live in the jungle, I still try to visit you guys once a week at least." Blu said solemnly. He slumped a bit on the sofa and frowned. All Linda could hear were soft squawks.

"Come here Blu." Linda said reassuringly as she held out her arms to motion him over. Blu cracked a tiny smile and waddled over to her waist and she gave him a hug and pet him. "I know you're sad but there's a catch to this." Linda said, putting on a smug expression. Blu tilted his head in confusion. "I know this is a big decision...but...um...well I was thinking maybe you'd like to come. It's been about ten months since, maybe things have changed." Linda finished, giving a wide grin. Blu then perked up and started to get excited, but it quickly faded as he recalled his fatherly duties. Linda knew what Blu was thinking and decided to explain a little more about the trip. The conversation ended up lasting two hours. Both eventually got drowsy and passed out on the sofa.

* * *

><p><strong>Back in Mills...<strong>

"So when are you two getting married?" Dylan asked curiously.

"Um...well we are still planning what to do for the reception." Answered veronica with a smile, "Me and Grant are hoping to be officially married in two months or less." Dylan responded with a grin and a nod. Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Well you guys better start heading off, you guys shouldn't miss you flight." Dylan said breaking the silence.

"Oh yeah." Grant embarrassingly chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Well guys, it was great seeing you again. It was very nice meeting you Veronica. Grant, good luck in med school, and Corbyn, good luck in the army." Dylan said, giving everyone a hug. All the humans looked down to see the birds hugging the other animals.

"I'll miss you guys." Brann said sadly.

"Aw...don't worry, we'll try to visit again soon!" Lily piped in trying to cheer up her military macaw friend.

"We should try to visit you guys instead." Both Brann and Wyatt boasted simultaneously.

"There ya go!" Milo laughed.

"Well it was awesome seeing you guys! And keep on rocking!" Trey shouted gleefully.

"It was nice meeting you too!" Sonya chirped with a large smile.

"Thanks for having us over for New Years. And keep an eye on your hand Dylan. See ya soon!" Grant said as he guided the pets out of the house and into their rent car. Dylan waved as they left then took a look at his right hand, where there was a black violin tattoo, covering two small scars.

"I will." Dylan muttered to himself before he went back into his own home.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Thanks for reading! This is my first fic to this site and I'm fairly new to fanfiction. I plan for this story to be quite long and I will try to upload new chapters regularly. Sorry if this chapter is boring, I was just trying to introduce some new characters and give a slight idea and insight of their life. I would greatly appreciate reviews and constructive criticism so I know how to improve my writing and the next chapters. Also, if you guys have any better ways for formatting let me know. For know this story is rated T for violence in later chapters, but please tell me if the rating ever needs to be changed. And again, thank you for reading! Oh and just in case: I do NOT own Rio and its characters nor do I own any of the songs that are used throughout this story <strong>


	2. What's The Plan?

**Chapter 2**

**What's the Plan?**

Blu woke up around ten o' clock the following morning after visiting Linda. "Oh wow, I just the weirdest dream that I was back in Minnesota." Blu yawned as he mumbled to himself. After rubbing his eyes to see the bookstore, Blu's pupils shrank. "Oh no! I fell asleep at Linda's! Oh no oh no oh no! Jewel's gonna kill me!" Blu panicked; he became so nervous he was nearly hyperventilating. The blue macaw paced back and forth quickly, trying to find some sort of gift to soften Jewel's attitude when he got back. Just then Linda gave Blu a small bag filled with store-bought raspberries.

"Here you go Blu. I know your mate's going to be a little angry and I remembered that she really likes these imported raspberries, so maybe you can use this to sweet talk her into the vacation." Linda said lovingly with a smile, practically reading Blu's expressions like a book. Blu happily took the small bag in his beak and Linda released him through a window.

"Don't forget to ask Jewel Blu!" Linda yelled happily as she watched Blu fly off into the jungle.

Blu flew as fast as he could to his tree. Once he got there, he started nervously talking. "Look um...Jewel I know I wasn't next to when I woke up but I can explain..." Blu said as he turned to go into his nest. It was then that he realized no one was in the nest.

"Explain what?" Jewel said crossly just as Blu entered the nest. The sound of her voice surprised Blu and caused him to jump. Shortly after arriving, their three macaw chicks landed on a branch outside, hiding behind their mother.

"Um...uh...well I went to Linda's bookstore to get you these raspberries you like...as...a gift." Blu muttered nervously, looking down to his side to avoid Jewel's stern glare.

"Thank you honey, but it took all night and all morning to get berries for Linda's? You have more explaining to do Blu. You were supposed to teach the kids about fruit picking about three hours ago. I was worried enough to go to Rafael's place and ask if he saw you." Jewel's tone started to soften as she spoke.

"I'm very sorry Jewel...but um...let's have these berries first." Blu sighed in relief. He turned around and saw his three kids: Diamond, Cobalt (sometimes referred to as Colby), and Isaac, already digging their heads into the bag curiously.

"Yes we should, before our kids eat all of the raspberries. I still want some." Jewel chuckled as she made her way towards the bag Blu brought.

"Don't worry, I'll explain everything as we eat."

* * *

><p><strong>In Wyoming...<strong>

"Well I'm going to work guys, you know the plan, food and water is outside in the back, just come back by six." Dylan informed as he pet Wyatt, Brann, and Sonya. He watched all three fly off, Sonya flying a little slower than her macaw friends, but still able to keep up. Dylan just chuckled and walked out to his car.

"Hey I'm going to go visit Jay is that cool?" Brann asked his two fellow bird companions.

"Yeah that's fine." Sonya said with a smile.

"Sure thing bro. We'll go and talk with Luther, maybe you guys can meet up with us later. Just stay safe Brann." Wyatt noted in a very caring tone.

"Don't worry Wyatt. I'll be fine. I'm a strong bird anyways." Brann smugly replied. Wyatt just rolled his eyes and left with Sonya towards the forest. Brann went back into town to find the fire station.

After flying to the roof of the fire station, Brann met a yellow-rumped warbler setting on the gutter of the building. "Yo. What up Jax! Wait or is it Brann? Man you need to quit changing names!" The warbler greeted Brann in a 'gangster' accent.

"Not much man, how about you Jay? Oh and call me whatever you want." Brann greeted, giving the smaller bird a fist bump with his feet.

"'Okay then Jax, but yeah...just sitting up on these gutters ya know?" Jay responded. The two then continued to have a casual conversation for about thirty minutes. Meanwhile, Sonya and Wyatt went to go visit their friend Luther, an acorn woodpecker. They found him in the forest talking to another group of birds before they flew off for late migration. "Oh hey Wyatt hi Sonya. Oh how's your wing?" Luther greeted, sporting a western accent.

"It's a lot better." Sonya replied with a smile.

"Good, I suppose your ready to migrate with me and Jay soon then?" Luther asked politely. Sonya nodded her head. "Your gonna love the fiestas in Mexico by the way." Luther added in, getting side-tracked.

"Wait, I thought you were taking Sonya to New York?" Wyatt asked with a puzzled look.

"Yeah, but after the snow melts in New York. So we decided to stay in Mexico until then." Luther replied kindly. The only word Wyatt could muster was "ah."

* * *

><p><strong>Back in Brazil...<strong>

"Wait...so you're going to leave for Minnesota for three to four weeks!" Jewel blurted out as she ate her final raspberry. Her beak dropped once she heard the news and she became a little upset. However Blu interjected Jewel before she could start lecturing him.

"Well yeah, I wanna go back to the area I was raised in. But there is also a catch honey. You see, Linda acknowledges our family and my duties as a father, but she thinks we can _all_ go to Minnesota." Blu eagerly said with a perky expression. Jewel on the other hand, was in shock. So many consequences, both good and bad, ran through her head like a train. After regaining her composure, Jewel opened her beak to reply to Blu's vacation plans.

"Blu I'm very happy that you and Linda took our whole family into consideration, but isn't still winter there? I mean we are tropical birds Blu, vacationing in the snow isn't meant for us. Plus I'm worried about bringing the kids, what if they can't cope with the weather...what if I can't either? I mean we have a life here in Rio, I don't just wanna leave it" Jewel spoke solemnly as she looked into Blu's eyes, which started to sadden. While this conversation took place, the three chicks just continued to glance at each other and give shrugs.

"Um...Those are very good points Jewel, we do have a life here, but it's only a vacation...well a long vacation. We are still coming back to Rio de Janeiro. Anyways, I know my ways around the cold, which is inside a nice warm building!" Blu exclaimed, "Don't worry we will be fine. I mean it'll be a change of scenery, but hey last time I changed my routine I ended up with a loving mate and kids. However, if you still don't wanna go, then I understand; I'll just visit Linda again and tell her that I'm staying here."

Jewel was ecstatic about the fact that Blu was okay with either decision, but she still felt guilty about holding Blu back from visiting his old home. "Please don't get me wrong honey, I really want to come see Minnesota and where you grew up, but I'm just worried." Jewel said in a soft tone. Blu saw her sad expression and lifted her head up by her beak.

"Hey Jewel, you don't have to be sad. Look, Linda's not leaving for another week because she still has to pack and get Fernando's passport or something like that. You have plenty of time to contemplate on what to do. I love you." Blu spoke gently as he gave Jewel a quick kiss. "I love you too Blu." Jewel replied lovingly.

"Well I'll take the kids out to play, you need a little time to yourself, you definitely deserve it for being a great mother. Just think about alright." Blu informed as he lead his kids out of their hollow. "So what's the plan dad?" Isaac asked during their flight, his curiosity and desire to learn obviously kicking in. Isaac definitely resembled his father.

"Give mommy a few days to think about her answer Isaac." Blu replied to his son, patting his son on the head with his foot. Cobalt and diamond laughed at their father's display of affection.

"Don't screw up his flying dad! You know he needs to improve to be able to catch up to my skills!" Cobalt teased. Unlike his brother, Cobalt resembled his mother more since he is more independent and less of a klutz than Isaac.

"Oh come on Colby, you aren't that much better than Isaac." Diamond replied, trying to condescend on her brother's cocky attitude. Although Diamond is shy and considerate, she always could speak up around her siblings. Blu just rolled his eyes and smiled at his kids' playful bickering. He then lead then to a pond so that they could relax and play for a while.

* * *

><p><strong>In Wyoming...<strong>

"So where is everyone Jax?" Jay asked as he and Brann flew to meet up with their friends. Brann responded Kindly and Jay responded with a nod. However, the two didn't realize that off in the distance, three other birds were watching them. The three consisted of two turkey vultures and a golden eagle.

"Looks like that stupid parrot is going somewhere." The golden eagle monotonously muttered with a scowl.

"Hey boss, do you still pick on Brann, you know, like a bully?" One of the turkey vultures asked with cowardliness in his voice.

"And why do you hate Brann and Wyatt exactly Payton?" The other turkey vulture asked, but with more confidence.

"Sam and Max, I've already told you the damn story about three times! But whatever, I guess telling you guys the story again won't kill me." The eagle, now know as Payton, said sharply as he turned to face the two vultures. "To answer your question Max, I still give Brann crap, more or less. I only hurl insults at him instead now of beating him up like a human bully in school. When we were younger, Brann was so vulnerable and fragile that it was pathetic, not to mention his brother had to stand up for both his brother and himself. So I at least respect Wyatt more. But now that little macaw acts arrogant, is self-centered, and maybe a little narcissistic. I don't know why his attitude changed, but I feel like he is mocking me in a way, and also showing off that he is _more powerful than the other birds here_. And to answer your question Sam, I _dislike_ those macaws because as they got older, the other local birds started asking favors from them. It felt like out of nowhere, tons of birds flocked to them, even asking those two to lead their migration groups. For what reason? Because they are colorful outcasts? Hell, some of the local birds are willing to kneel down to these two macaws. God, it only gives them this false sense of power, and they don't even deserve that!" Payton ended his rant with an enraged expression and tone.

The two turkey vultures stared at each other. They both had to disagree with Payton's second part of the rant, mainly because they actually enjoyed Wyatt and Brann's company. However, they were both to afraid to speak up, knowing how powerful Payton can be. "Well um sorry I didn't mean to upset you boss, I only want to be more informed on the whole deal." Sam replied in a soft tone.

"So um...Payton, we were going to go visit the macaw brothers, but I don't know anymore." Max mentioned in a soft tone as well.

"It's okay. I just need time to...compose myself before seeing those two." Payton said as sighed heavily. Sam and Max decided to start following Jay and Brann, who were now little specks in the sky.

It took Jay and Brann about ten minutes to locate their friends once they had entered the forest. They found them hanging around a big boulder surrounded by trees. "Yo man, nice to see ya guys again." Jay greeted, giving Luther a fist-bump and high-fiving Sonya and Wyatt. The group had a casual conversation but somehow avoided the topic of migration. That all changed when Sam, Max, and Payton land behind the group.

"Yeah y'all!" Sam and Max yelled simultaneously. Everyone turned around and gave warm greetings and smiles to all three birds.

"Oh yeah look, it's them crooked vultures!" Brann joked as the vulture brothers landed. Wyatt couldn't help but laugh at his younger brother's joke and Sam and Max gave small chuckles. Everyone was stumped and looked confused. The joke put a smile on Brann's face. However, once Brann laid his eyes on Payton, his smile faded.

"Hey guys what's up? When are you all leaving for late migration?" Payton asked in a polite, but curious voice.

"Well me and my bro Brann are staying again for the winter." Wyatt answered, "However, Jay, Luther, and Sonya are going to migrate to Mexico in about a week."

"Actually," Luther interjected with a nervous tone, "Me and Jay decided that we should leave tomorrow afternoon. It's because there is supposed to be some huge snow storm to compensate for our lack of snow this year."

Brann immediately took notice to Luther's statement. The military macaw then slowly turned his body away from the group, his expression saddening with each passing second. Brann's felt his heart sink to the bottom of his chest. Payton took a glance at the now depressed bird and waddled over to him.

"Hey little dude, I know your feeling a bit down because of Sonya leaving so soon right?" Payton asked kindly, although he was only stating the obvious. Brann turned his head to face Payton's, his facial expression becoming stern. "Why don't you just suck up your gut and tell her how you feel Jax?" He advised, giving him a large grin.

"Don't call me Jax._ Only my friends call me that_. Also, why are you helping me?" Brann angrily whispered to Payton. The eagle's temper then melted away to reveal a cross expression.

"Whoa whoa whoa. I'm only helping you because I can see that you are kinda depressed and I wanna change that." Payton replied, mimicking the tone and loudness of Brann's voice.

"I didn't ask you to Payton. Why do even care? You always pick on me and butcher my self-esteem, yet you wanna help me feel better? Just go away you idiot."

"Listen, I'm trying to make amends with you, and this is a great way opportunity for that you ungrateful little piece of shi-!"

"Hey calm down both of you!" Max interrupted, jumping in between the two arguing birds and holding his wings out to separate them. "Look, me and Sam will help out Brann with this dilemma, and you need to cool off boss."

Payton grunted in defeat, "Fine. But this is the only time I'm taking _your orders_ Max." The golden eagle then flapped his wings and flew away. The other birds stared in confusion as the eagle flew away.

"What the? What happened?" Wyatt asked his brother in a concerning tone. Brann only shook his head at the retreating bird.

"He's just a little cranky." Sam teased with the intent to lighten the mood.

"A little?" Brann skeptically questioned. The angry bird then started to swear under his breath, but it still arose attention from Sonya, who tilted her head and gave a look of disgust from Brann's vulgarity. Sam and Max sighed, said goodbye and wished the migrating birds good luck, and took Brann so that he could blow off steam while finding things to help confess his feelings towards Sonya.

Wyatt and Sonya exchanged glances, as did Jay and Luther. "Well I think we should be heading back home guys, I'll talk to my brother when he's in the mood." Wyatt noted as he said his farewell. Jay and Luther both nodded before Sonya and Wyatt flew back towards Dylan's house.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Again thanks for reading! Constructive Criticism is very welcome<strong>.** I'm sorry if this story is starting kinda slow, but I'm going to try to tie the two together in chapter 3, if not, then chapter 4 will definitely be where the tie-in is. Also sorry, for vague description on Blu and jewel's kids, I didn't want to spend forever on their personalities...so yeah.  
><strong>


	3. Torn

****Edit: Fixed one of Blu's lines because if it was left as it was, I would've completely ignored the time line of the story. Sorry about that.****

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

**Torn  
><strong>

Hours had passed since the group of Wyoming birds separated earlier. Brann now held a daisy (Sonya's favorite flower) and a small branch of concord grapes in his claws. Sam and Max had helped him locate the daisy while Brann found a way inside Dylan's house and retrieved the grapes from the refrigerator. Despite being locked out, Brann always hid an extra house key in between two of the patio bricks with worn off calk. The vulture brothers wished good luck to Brann before departing, which the macaw then hid the items in a secure spot in a tree hollow near the house in their absence. The military macaw grinned at his work and he could already feel the nervousness and anticipation battling it out in his stomach. Now all the love struck bird had to do is wait for his crush to be alone. Unfortunately for Brann, when he met up with Sonya and his brother, he received a long lecture instead of a romantic moment. More hours came to pass, and eventually, Dylan arrived home from work. Yet there was still no silver lining for Brann, but the determined bird refused to believe so pessimistically and kept reassuring himself.

After being let in by the young adult, the three birds tried to enjoy the last night they would be together. It was going be awhile before Sonya could ever visit Wyoming again. When the sun had finally set and the moon glistened through the mountaintops, Sonya decided to get some fresh air and enjoy the night sky. Sonya informed the macaw brothers that she was going to be back at the "boulder," which is the area that everyone conversed at earlier that day. About ten minutes had passed when Brann had finally decided that he could confess his love. Without mentioning anything to Wyatt, he flew out through an open window to locate the stashed goods from earlier.

"Um...which tree did I put the stuff in?" Brann asked himself, circling numerous tress that were near the house. Brann had a hard time trying to find his romantic accessories in the dark. It took him about five minutes to locate the daisy and grapes, and after picking off the mushy grapes, the macaw eagerly took off into the skies to locate Sonya. An enormous grin appearing on his face as he inched closer and closer. When Brann was near the magpie's location, he silently landed and put the tiny grapevine in his beak and tried to grip the daisy with his wing. However, little to Brann's knowing, Wyatt had already located Sonya and sat with her on the boulder.

"It's such a beautiful night. I really love this spot. In fact I love this place...I...I..I'm going to miss it. I'm so used to living here with you and Brann." Sonya sighed sadly as she stared at the starry sky.

"Yeah. It's definitely going to be different around here without you." Wyatt responded solemnly, staring at the dark, cold ground. It was at this point that Brann spotted them from their backsides. He was behind one of the last trees before the small clearing to the boulder. Brann's happy and eager expression started to fade slowly. 'Why is my brother here?' Brann asked himself

"I mean, Mexico and it's fiestas are definitely going to be fun and all, but I think it was a little unnecessary for Jay and Luther to move so far down south. I guess I don't mind though, I'll finally be back home in New York after nearly a year. Yet I'm still going to miss you guys a lot." Sonya added, still retaining her sad tone. She glanced at Wyatt, who still stared at the ground sadly.

"Well ha ha, Jay and Luther are kinda like that sometimes, but I still hope you enjoy it over there and are safe. Same with being in New York again. It's been one helluva year that's for sure, and we are going to miss you dearly Sonya, but make sure you send us some authentic New York pizza." Wyatt chuckled softly, turning to face Sonya with a small grin, hoping to lighten the mood slightly. Sonya giggled at Wyatt's comment.

"Hm...You are so sweet and kind Wyatt. Not only that, but you are so charming, I mean, you made this sad conversation a little more...happy." Sonya said quietly as she looked at the ground, "You know...outta of all the friends I've met here in Wyoming, I'm going to miss you the most." She then moved her eyes to meet with Wyatt's. A few seconds later, she inched her beak closer to his and they both closed their eyes right as their beaks met for a kiss. Then the kiss started to get a little more passionate. Meanwhile, Brann watched in shock, dropping his beak and the grapes. After closing his beak, Brann became infuriated, and crushed the daisy in his talons and stamped it into the ground before flying away.

* * *

><p><strong>In Rio de Janeiro...<strong>

"Ah come oh dad! Why do you have to be such a party pooper?" Diamond zealously asked her father. Yet again, Nico and Pedro threw another party, but this time, the party was not held at The Canopy, which was the name of the bird's samba club. Instead, the cardinal and canary duo brought the party over to the Blu and Jewel's home. Needless to say, this time, Blu got upset with his two friends and tried to coldly brush them off.

"Because sweetie, this is the thousandth party I've gone to in a week. I love these parties and I'm great friends with your Uncles and all, but Nico and Pedro could've given us a little privacy and not make this party a surprise." Blu answered in a light tone, trying not to sound agitated. The Spix macaw looked up to see a large radius of birds dancing around his home. Then almost coincidentally, Diamond's darker-feathered brother Cobalt landed beside her and defended her previous statement.

"Yeah dad, you are being a party pooper. You now that mom gave the heads up on us vacationing at Minnesota and you told us this morning that we'd leave in two days. I guess word just got out to Nico and Pedro and they wanted to be good friends because they aren't going to see us for another month. Can you please just enjoy it?" Colbalt pleaded before turning around to the crowd, "See even my nerdy brother is having a blast." The little bird then pointed to the crowd where Isaac was dancing with some of Rafael's kids. Blu then looked at his two kids and couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Diamond and Colby, you are absolutely right. I should of realized that there was more meaning to this party then to...well...party. Sorry for being a lame parent. Now go on ahead and hang out with Ralphie's kids. Oh and I said that we are leaving in five days, not two." Blu said, loosening up before nudging the kids towards their friends. The two tiny macaws smiled back and gave their father a hug before gliding towards the party. Blu then went to locate Nico, Pedro, and Rafael.

Luckily, Blu's three best friends remained together and he located them at the base of his home talking to his mate. "Yo yo yo! It's the big blue bird himself! What's crackin' my friend?" Pedro greeted Blu as he landed in the group.

"Oh not much. Just trying to enjoy the party." Blu mentioned as he waved one of his wings to greet all of his other friends.

"Listen Blu. Me and Pedro are sorry about the surprise party, we were just-" Nico started before Blu interjected.

"Hey guys, it's okay. I know why you threw the party and I very much appreciate it. I'm sorry that I've been a little sour recently. It's just been a little tense." Blu apologized to the cardinal and canary. Nico and Pedro grinned back at their blue friend. "Just...uh next time when you want to throw a big party at our home, please make sure that we know ahead of time." Blu added in teasingly. Everyone started laughing.

"See I told you guys that Blu wouldn't be mad. We are all amigos here, he just needed time to cool off. By the way, it's going to be weird without you guys for a month." Rafael noted to the smaller birds, who now were relieved.

"Yeah. We are _uma grande família_, we just had to had to throw the party, ya know?" Nico pitched in to Rafael's sentence. Blu and Jewel both nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it." Jewel responded reassuringly. Pedro then flew up above the group and looked at every bird there.

"Como on guys, what are we waiting for? Let's go party instead of being gloomy and stuff." Pedro insisted, racing towards another group of birds that were dancing.

"Agreed." Blu said before racing the cardinal.

* * *

><p><strong>In Wyoming...<strong>

As the two lovebirds embraced each other on the big rock, Wyatt could help but feel guilty. He grunted and lowered his "eyebrows" before breaking the kiss. Sonya then lasciviously leered at the macaw until she caught a glimpse of his expression. She then looked at Wyatt concernedly, tilting her head as she did so.

"Hey what's wrong Wyatt? Is it me?" Sonya asked softly, hoping to avoid the melancholy vibe from earlier. Wyatt just shook his head.

"No it's not you." Wyatt answered, averting his eyes to stare at the ground, "Look, we can't do this." He continued, this time meeting his eyes with Sonya's.

"Why not? It's clear that we like each other." Sonya retorted.

"See that's the point. Don't get me wrong, I like you, but I shouldn't be the one you're kissing, it should be my brother." Wyatt responded with her expression straightened.

"Brann? I mean he's cute and all...but...uh" Sonya stuttered. She then glared at Wyatt with a confusion look.

"Well you see, Brann really likes you. In fact, he probably loves you. I've known this ever since Dylan took you in. He would always talk to me about your personality and how great you looked, and I tried to offer advice, but he always was shy around you, despite the fact that we lived in the same house for nearly a year. Kissing you...felt like I was betraying my own brother." Wyatt admitted, returning to his guilty expression. Sonya looked at him sympathetically.

"I understand. But...um...I don't feel the same way for your brother." Sonya said softly.

"What, why?"

"Because he isn't a sweet character as you Wyatt. Brann is very good looking, but it seems like he is too arrogant and cocky for his own good. You saw how he acted this afternoon! Brann can be nice at times, but he can be a real jerk. Liking him would mean I'd be shallow. I'm sorry Wyatt." Sonya informed trying her best not to upset the military macaw she sat next two.

"I may be his brother, but I must admit he did change a lot. He does care about you though Sonya. Just, please think about it before you leave tomorrow afternoon. I'm so sorry, I'll see you back at the house". Wyatt quietly said before flying away. Sonya then stared at the ground. She couldn't help but smile.

'Is that so?' She thought to herself, 'Maybe I shouldn't have said those harsh things about Brann. He still is one of my best friends. Hm...change.' The magpie finished contemplating and flew back to Dylan's house.

* * *

><p>After a long night's rest, all three birds had a grasp on what had happened last night. The morning was excruciatingly awkward since none of the birds ever spoke to each other. When the clock struck twelve, Jay and Luther arrived at Dylan's house and knocked on the window of the living room with their beaks. Brann squawked the word 'outside' so he could communicate with Dylan. After investigating the tapping sound, Dylan replied to Brann by letting all three birds out and noticed that they met up with the two tapping birds. He looked at each bird's expression and quickly realized what was going on.<p>

"Are you ready Sonya?" Luther asked after him and Jay gave Brann and Wyatt goodbye 'fist-bumps.' Sonya veered her eyes towards the ground and only nodded. She started to get choked up. She walked over to Wyatt and gave him a hug.

"Thank you for everything." Sonya spoke softly. "Likewise." Wyatt replied, mimicking Sonya's tone. The magpie then walked over to Dylan. He picked her up and stroked her head gently.

"Be safe out there Sonya. I didn't treat your wing for nothing." Dylan joked as he placed Sonya on his shoulder. Sonya replied by rubbing against his neck before flying down to Brann. She then stared at Brann for a few seconds before giving him a tight hug. Before she let go however, Sonya planted a kiss on Brann's cheek, which caused the macaw to blush under his feathers.

"Bye Brann. Promise me that you'll change your attitude for the better and become more selfless." Brann responded with a nod. Sonya then took one last look at everything and started to flap her wings. Tears slowly started to roll down her face.

"See ya guys." Jay said before taking towards the sky with Luther.

"Until next time." Sonya said in between sniffs. She then followed Jay and Luther, and Jay tried to comfort the magpie as they flew. Brann and Wyatt stayed outside and watched their friends fly off into the distance. After a few minutes, the three migrating birds were no longer to be seen.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Okay, I'm going to merge the two in the next chapter promise, which might mean chapter four will be longer than these chapters. Other than that, please note any grammar mistakes, and as always, please review andor give constructive criticism.**


	4. Coming Undone

**A.N: Just a head's up, The formatting in this chapter is going to be a little different. It'll be like a montage in a movie, where ****the events take place over the course of a month. Plus, this chapter is going to be long.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

**Coming Undone**

Two days had passed since Sonya, Jay, and Luther migrated. Sam and Max came to visit earlier in the morning when Dylan left for work. The two turkey vultures tried to help console both macaws about their friend's leaving. Payton didn't come with them because he had 'business' to take care of. After the two pairs of brothers hung out for about half the day, Payton came and found Sam and Max. Apparently, the eagle needed their assistance for an unknown task. Disappointed, the vultures gave Wyatt and Brann a hearty goodbye before taking to the skies with the large golden eagle. Wyatt and Brann then decided to go back home and wait for Dylan to arrive home.

Dylan was a little surprised that he saw his two birds sitting at the front door when he came home about four hours later. He immediately shrugged it off and went into his bedroom to change. Wyatt and Brann then flew to different locations of the house. Brann went into the living room and intelligently found the T.V. remote and turned on the television and adjusted the volume of the speakers. After ten minutes of watching television, the macaw was about to switch the input of the T.V. so he could play a video game; however, he caught a glimpse of Wyatt writing something on a small notepad. Tilting his head in confusion, Brann slowly made his way to his brother to see what he was up to.

"Hey how's it going bro?" Dylan said happily through his cell phone as he trotted out of his bedroom and into the kitchen.

"Oh it's going pretty well. That bird Sonya that I took care of was finally able to go back in the wild. Yeah. Um...I released her about two days ago. Yep, I just hope she'll be fine in the wild. Oh hey Nick, _how's the chemotherapy treating you?_ Oh that's good to hear. Yeah man, it's been a while, I should come visit you. I just have to save up on money first, I don't want to spend all of my savings. You know how much it costs to go to Rio de Janeiro. Alright then, I was just checking up on you like always big bro. I should let you rest a little. Love you man, bye." After the conversation with his brother, Dylan hung up the phone and lazily placed it on one of the counter-tops before scouring the fridge for dinner. Meanwhile, Brann realized that his own older brother was writing some sort of note to Dylan.

"Hi Wyatt, what are you writing?" Brann asked politely but curiously, putting on a large smile. With a stern look, Wyatt turned around to face his brother.

"Um...Brann there is something I wanna talk to you about." He said slowly, tearing out and crumpling the notebook paper while hopping off of the table he was on top of.

"Sure. Shoot." Brann responded cheerfully.

"Look, I've been thinking a lot lately. We've lived in this place for a long time now and I kinda want us to fly back home." Wyatt spoke wearily. Brann's gleeful expression then faded into a cross look.

"What? Why? You know this is our home! Dylan has taken care of us for nearly thirteen years now, we can't just abandon him like that! I sure as hell won't!" Brann exclaimed angrily.

"Well I know that Dylan's been there for us. That's why I was writing him this goodbye note. I'm sure he'd understand. Besides, don't you ever want to go back to Rio de Janeiro, our birthplace?"

"Yes, but I can go back to Rio when we visit Dylan's brother there. Don't pelt me with this homeward-bound crap bro! I know that you only want to leave to go see Sonya and get some tail with her!" Brann shouted, getting close to his brother's face. Upon hearing the last sentence, Wyatt became infuriated.

"How dare you Brann!" Wyatt shouted at the top of his lungs as he threw his wings up in the air, "I was being serious about this whole thing! I don't want to get any from Sonya, we're only friends!"

"Then why did you suck face with her?" Brann retorted loudly. Wyatt's beak dropped from shock.

"You saw that? Look it meant nothing, I know you liked her so I broke the kiss and apologized. You know I care about you a lot bro. I practically raised you, I would never do anything to hurt you. You know I love you man." Wyatt responded, lowering his voice slightly.

"Alright, if you truly cared about me, then you wouldn't have even kissed her! Sure you took care of me when I was little, but I don't need you anymore! You don't need to make my decisions okay! I can handle the big scary world. And You know what Wyatt? _I don't even care about you and nor do I love you_, now go ahead and leave to Rio...er I mean Mexico to see home...er Sonya." Brann continued to shout. His brother then shook his head in disgust after recovering from shock at Brann's last sentence.

"Fine, I see now you feel. I try to apologize for one mistake, and I get my own heart ripped out by my own brother. Ha, Sonya was right, _you are an arrogant ass_, and I'm your brother! She only liked you as a friend, never anything more. To think that I convinced her to look at your brighter side and give you that kiss on the cheek. I take care of you and protect you and love you and this is what I get! Whatever, I'm leaving tomorrow, with or without you!" Wyatt raised his voice again. This time, Dylan was able to her the loud squawking, and could tell that the brothers were fighting when he entered the living room. Brann's angry expression started to disappear into guilt

"Hey hey! I think you two need to be separated!" Dylan said calmly as he picked up Wyatt and put him in a cage in the garage. There was something about Wyatt's rant that bothered Brann. For the rest of the night, Brann contemplated what he had said.

'I am an arrogant ass...why did I say those things? I was just so furious about the whole Sonya thing...god I'm a horrible bird...but I can't go apologize now...I'll talk to him in the morning' Brann thought to himself as he entered his own cage in the guest bedroom. Brann was still in deep thought until two in the morning, which was when he finally passed out.

* * *

><p>Brann slowly woke up the next morning at tiredly glanced at the clock. It read: 1:30 p.m. Almost instantaneously, Brann's eyes widened and he panicked to release the hatch on his cage. Once open, the macaw soared through the house to get into the garage, where he was planning to sit down and apologize for the previous night's argument. Just when Brann was about to mention his brother's name, he saw that his brother's cage was empty. Unwilling to believe that his brother left, Wyatt flew to every room in the house, squawking Wyatt's name as he did so. Brann was unsuccessful in his search. Defeated, he trotted to one of the windows and peered outside. Snow was falling heavily outside, making it near impossible to see anything in a thirty foot radius. Brann winced angrily, knowing that he had made the biggest mistake of his life. Dylan walked up from behind and put his tattooed hand on Brann's head. The macaw turned around to face his owner slowly and sadly.<p>

"Hey little guy. I know what happened. Um...well he is...uh on his way home now. He's probably quite far by now. As long as Wyatt...beats the...uh...snow storms...he'll make it to Rio unscathed." Dylan stuttered, venturing his eyes randomly as he spoke, "I now it's going to be tough, but you can't go search for him in this weather. It's snowing hard and it's only going to get worse for the next few days." He finished pointing at the window. Brann lowered his head in sadness.

* * *

><p><strong>In Rio: One day later...<br>**

Blu, Jewel, and all of their friends were hanging out together, but this time, it was only them. No parties. Everyone wanted to have one last reunion before the blue macaw family left for their month-long vacation to Minnesota.

"Yep. We leave tomorrow morning at seven o' clock. After four weeks, both Tulio and Fernando recieved their passports. Everyone's all packed. All we have to do is spend the night at the aviary, Tulio will pick us up about an hour or two before our plane flight." Blu noted happily, giving a smile to all of his friends.

"It's good to hear that everyone is ready amigo. The last thing you want is another 'adventure' while your on vacation...in the snow." Rafael laughed heartily as he nudged Blu with his wings. Everyone chuckled at Rafael's little joke.

"Oh by the way Blu, you should bring back some of that snow." Pedro piped in. Now it was Blu's turn at a hearty laugh.

"Pedro, you know that the snow would melt on our way back. I sure can bring you some water in a jar though." Blu teased, trying to hold in is laughter. All three of Blu's kids burst into laughter, which caused everyone else to giggle.

For the rest of the day, the group flew around Rio to some of their favorite spots, such as the Ipanema Beach and the Sugarloaf Mountain so that the blue macaw family could enjoy the sights one last time before leaving. They even ran into the marmosets, who fled quickly after Jewel gave them a sly look and taunted them. Blu, on the other hand, still didn't succeed so well on intimidation. After a long day of hanging out, the sun finally started to set behind the glistening sea.

"We better go to the aviary before it's dark and everyone leaves that building." Jewel told Blu. As if on cue, their children all started to moan simultaneously. After Blu explained why they had to leave, they gave their 'uncles' a hug.

"Y'all be safe now!" Nico shouted as him, Pedro, and Rafael started to fly away.

"We will. Oh and don't worry, we'll be back three days before Carnaval! So we can party it up when we get back!" Blu yelled back, waving his wings in the air rapidly before flying in the opposite direction.

* * *

><p><strong>In Mills: Two days later...<strong>

Dylan stood inside an empty kitchen to Keenan's Grill, a local restaurant that also contained a small sports bar. He was talking to the head chef and the owner, Keenan after closing hours.

"Look I'm sorry Keenan, I now I've been slacking recently, but a lot of stuff has gone done and it kinda stresses me out sometimes you know?" Dylan stammered slowly, fiddling with his chef's apron.

"I understand my boy. But Dylan Jackson, you know you still gotta pull through with work. I know that you still have troubles financially, and it doesn't help that I cut you pay by two dollars an hour, but this restaurant is dying too Dylan. You are my sous chef because you are one damn good cook, and when you slack off, it negates bad attention. It doesn't help when we are slowly losing customers. Plus, It's not like you either. That boy Fredrick has been really stepping it up recently. I've known you for five years now, and you are one great worker, but business is still business my dear boy, and although it would cause me great pain, if you still slack off after two weeks, I will have no choice but to fire you and make Fredrick take your place." Keenan explained solemnly. Dylan nodded respectably.

"Alright Keenan, I understand. I'll try to step it up."

"Thank you Dylan. Remember this conversation, I don't want to ruin your passion for cooking. Please take care and have a good night." Keenan said, shaking Dylan's hand. The young man nodded and gave a small grin before turning around and wiping off his forehead in relief. After navigating his car through the snow fall back to his home, Dylan immediately checked up on Brann to make sure he was coping well with the absence of his brother. The macaw gave him a kind and happy squawk and a large welcome smile before perching on his shoulder. Dylan smiled back as he scratched Brann's head. Immediately afterwards, he went to call his brother Nick to check up on him.

* * *

><p><strong>In Minnesota...(Whoa what a change)<strong>

When the plane landed safely in Minnesota, the first plan was to visit the old town of Moose Lake. Blu and Linda were immediately struck with nostalgia upon entering the small town. Hanging his beak wide open, Blu stared out of the window of the car that Tulio rented for the trip.

"Wow, So this is snow dad?" Isaac asked curiously as he and his siblings gawked outside at the moving ground, which was completely white. Blu nodded his head with a large smile, the nostalgia still flowing through him like a waterfall.

"It's so...white." Cobalt muttered, not moving his eyes from the ground. Isaac and Diamond both chuckled.

"Nah it's black you silly goose." Diamond giggled at Colby's obvious remark. Jewel was admiring the sight of the frozen Moosehead Lake as they made the turn to Linda's old bookstore.

"You know after living in Rio for quite a while, this town feels even smaller." Linda chuckled as they pulled up to the store. There was another lady, about Linda's age, standing outside of the store, waving frantically at them. "Denise!" Linda screamed as he jumped out of the car and hugged the woman. Tulio and Fernando left the car much more slowly and gave the woman a firm handshake. The lady was an old high-school friend of Linda's. When Blu and his family finally hopped out of the car, Denise yelped in joy and squeezed Blu.

"Oh I missed you so much Blu! Everything's been less colorful here!" Denise shouted in excitement, squeezing Blu even tighter. The poor macaw got hugged so hard his couldn't breath and his eyes started to bulge out of their sockets. Jewel and their kids started laughing at the sight.

"Missed...ya...too..Den...ise.." Blu wheezed through extremely short breaths. Denise then caught a glimpse of the whole gang of Spix macaw's and loosened her grip on Blu.

"Wow, you even have this cute little family. You sure got 'busy' Blu, did those dating books help at all." Denise said smugly as she narrowed her eyes at Blu. Once the message got into Blu's head, the blue bird blushed from embarrassment so much that his feathers were starting to turn red. Yet again, his own family starting laughing at Blu, even Linda, Tulio and Fernando.

"Come on Denise, you are embarrassing Blu. Oh we should probably follow you up to your house, these birds...and Tulio...aren't fit for this kind of weather. We'll have a large catching up conversation at your place. Linda chuckled as she nudged her old friend. Before Tulio could defend himself, everyone hopped in their respective cars, leaving the ornithologist to feel defeated.

"Okay fine...we can go..." Tulio muttered as he sat down in the driver's seat.

"Yeah we should go...this snow stuff and the air is really cold." Cobalt complained as he hopped back in the rent-a-car.

"That's Minnesota for ya Colby." Blu teased as he buckled up the three kids in one seat-belt.

"Don't worry, daddy will knit you a scarf." Jewel giggled, turning around to see her mate narrowing his eyes at her in offense. Once little peck on the beak fixed that angry expression.

* * *

><p><strong>In Mills: One week later...<strong>

"Hi Dylan!" Brann squawked to his owner as Dylan walked through the front door, some snow blowing into the house as he shut the door. Dylan grinned and gave Brann a little scratch underneath his beak, which made the macaw twitch. The young man plopped down on the couch and turned on the television. Almost eagerly, Brann squawked the word 'PlayStation' to his owner after seeing him turn on the T.V.

"Ah, you wanna play video games with me, my little feathered buddy? Sure, you choose the game." Dylan said as he slumped down into the couch. Brann's expression turned evil as he picked up a game that read 'Mortal Kombat.' Dylan's eyes widened in fear. "Um...you sure?" He stuttered. Brann only nodded slowly with an evil grin before inserting the disc into the PlayStation. "Here we go..." Dylan sighed as he picked up a controller. Buckets of virtual blood were to be spilled, bodies were to be sliced, beaten, torn, and even though Dylan knew the consequences, he was determined to beat his own pet.

"FATALITY!" The television speakers roared for the hundredth time. Dylan's jaw dropped as he watched his character brutally die on screen. Brann turned to his owner and gave him a sly look as Dylan narrowed his eyes at the macaw.

"You are using Jax! You know he's cheap!" Dylan pouted, flinging his hands into the air. Brann rolled his eyes and chose the Sorcerer fighter, Shang Tsung while his owner chose the God of War character, Kratos. 'Going down now bird-brain.' Dylan thought to himself. The match started, and immediately, Brann lower his beak onto the d-pad, his wing on the buttons, and his claws on the trigger buttons, yet still kept one eye peering at the screen. Brann performed combos after combos fluently while Dylan still was attempting to input his own combos. "FLAWLESS VICTORY!" The announcer bellowed. For round two, Dylan started to button mash, hoping to get one hit in. "FLAWLESS VICTORY! FATALITY!" The announcer bellowed once more. "This is sad." Dylan monotonously noted, still in shock. He then gazed at the calender in the living room. It was almost the end of the month. "Oh crap! I have to pay the rent in two weeks! I won't have the money yet, I have to extend the payment!" Dylan panicked as he leaped of the couch and ran into the kitchen towards the phone. Brann shrugged and continued to play Mortal Kombat.

"Yeah hi what's up Reggie? Um I wanted to see if I could get an extension for my monthly rent. Yes I'm aware that I've already done this twice. I'm also aware that I've skipped two payments yes. No no no...all I need is another week sir." Dylan chattered nervously, pacing back and forth in the kitchen, "Yes, only one more week, I'm only slightly short. You will? Thank you so much. Wait what? I'm sorry, did you say you'll kick me out if I forget this payment? Oh okay I understand, I'll have the money in by the due date. Goodbye Reggie." Dylan muttered as he finally hung up the phone. The young man then threw his fists into the table and sighed angrily. He eyed the violin tattoo on his hand angrily. Brann, overhearing the conversation, looked at him, puzzled and worried.

* * *

><p><strong>In Minnesota...<strong>

Blu and Jewel were playing with their kids in Denise's backyard, rolling the snow gently to form a tiny snowman. Despite that it was really frigid outside, everyone still had a great time playing in the snow.

"You know this place is really beautiful. Cold, but beautiful. I actually enjoy this snow." Jewel mentioned lovingly to her mate. The two were pushing a medium-sized snowball along the ground together.

"Yep. Not as beautiful as Brazil though. But both places have their own take on beauty. And yes, although I preferred to stay inside, the snow was always great." Blu said philosophically while increasing the tension between his body and the snowball. "Agreed." Jewel responded happily. The two then watched their children work together to form the body of the snowman.

"One...two..three...PUSH!" The three chicks shouted as they exalted all of their energy on the cold snowball. Their parent smiled at the cute display of teamwork.

"Oh and thanks for getting the scarfs and hats. They are surprisingly comfy and warm." Jewel quickly mention, lifting up her pink scarf and small black winter cap. Blu wore a yellow scarf and a red beanie. Their kids had green and red scarfs and had hats that would fit on dolls. Before Blu could open his mouth to respond to Jewel, he got hit in the back of the head with a snowball. Both Blu and Jewel turned to see two Canadian geese laughing hysterically on the fence.

"Nice shot Chloe!" One of the geese shouted. Blu shook his head. "Thanks Alice. Long time no see nerd bird! Wait...who are these guys?" The other goose, Chloe asked, pointing to Jewel and their kids, who now were staring at the geese.

"This is my mate Jewel. And these are my kids Diamond, Cobalt, and Isaac." Blu responded confidently, "Nice to run into you two again Chloe and Alice. Great to see you still throw snowballs like champs." He added in sarcastically, his eyes half-closed. After closing his beak, Alice threw another snowball, hitting Blu in the face. The macaw unenthusiastically shook off the snow.

"Wow looks you got 'busy' Blu. Can't call you a virgin no more." Alice remarked after snickering. Blu blushed again while Diamond walked up to her mother and asked what a virgin is. Jewel nervously told her it was nothing while Blu formed a snowball in his wings and threw it at Alice, hitting her in the face as well. Chloe tried throwing another one, but it missed Blu and hit Jewel. Smugly, the female macaw wiped off the snow and formed a snowball just like Blu did and threw it back. All of a sudden, a snowball fight broke out.

"Yeah we're going to see grandma tomorrow morning." Fernando noted to Denise while drinking a cup of hot chocolate.

"Yep. I'm pretty excited...and whoa...what are those birds doing?" Tulio said startled as he turned to see the snowball war going on outside. Denise and Linda both got up when they heard some snowball colliding with the glass door. Everyone was speechless. Outside, the whole Spix's macaw family started to pick up the medium-sized snowball and flung it towards the geese. The two geese fled in terror as the snowball crashed into the fence, chipping it and ricocheting powdered snow into the air. Blu and Jewel stared at each other before bursting in laughter and falling to the ground. Their kids started to cheer and laugh as well.

"That was awesome." Blu giggled as he stared into the sun.

"It was definitely fun...but it was a blast because we conquered them together." Jewel said flirtatiously. The two macaws then shared a passionate kiss. Diamond stuck out her tongue in disgust.

"Um...it suddenly got colder out here." Isaac noted queasily.

"I'm with Isaac. Let's go inside and leave mama and papa to their business." Cobalt added before trotting inside with his siblings.

"I love you Jewel." Blu said lovingly as they broke from the kiss.

"Yeah." Jewel responded. Blu was thrown off a little bit by her response, but shrugged it off, before giving his mate another kiss.

* * *

><p><strong>In Mills: One week later...<strong>

Although it was a day off for Dylan, the young cook decided to work another hour for extra pay. After work, Dylan did a little shopping at the newly built supermarket. When he got home, he couldn't even open the door die to the fact that his hands were full. He kicked the door. A minute later, Brann managed to open the door for the young man.

"Thank you young gentleman." Dylan teased as he walked in. Brann bowed as he closed the door. Once he set down the groceries, he pulled out two new video game cases. "Guess what? I had a little extra money, so I bought L.A. Noire, and for you, I bought Marvel vs. Capcom 3." Dylan said eagerly as he held out the game cases. Brann's eyes sparkled and he started drooling over the later video game. The military macaw quickly flew over and took the fighting game out of his owner's hands.

A few hours had passed. It was one large gaming session. Dylan, yet again, got served by Brann at Marvel vs Capcom 3. The macaw was able to pick up the game almost immediately so he wiped the floor with his trainer. They then switched games and Dylan tried out L.A. Noire, much to Dylan's pleasure. After handing over the controller over to Brann, Dylan decided to do some sit-ups. The macaw was too excited about the games to be exercising with his owner, which he did by mimicking Dylan's workout. About ten minutes had passed when the phone suddenly rang. Dylan slowly got up, loosened up his shoulders, and retrieved the phone.

"Hello." Dylan greeted cheerfully. Almost immediately, his cheerful expression faded. His eyes and his mouth gaped open and Dylan rose one of his fists to cover his mouth. "Yes I'm fine...thank you...for...notifying me." The young man muttered slowly into the phone before hanging up. Dylan's lips started to quiver rapidly as he slowly made his way into a kitchen chair. Upon sitting down, Dylan broke down, crying loudly as he buried his face in to his palms. Brann glanced over at his trainer, who was shedding tears and shaking his head in denial for an unknown reason. The concerned macaw then flew and perched himself on the table in front of Dylan. His owner looked at him slowly. Dylan's face was streaming with tears and his the bottom of his eyes were red from crying. Trying to compose himself, Dylan leaned closer to his bird.

"Brann...my...my...br...brother...Nick..." Dylan sniveled between heavy breaths, "he...he...passed away..." Brann's eyes widened in shock and his beak fell open slightly as he felt tears of his own welling up in his eyes. He could not believe what he had heard. Brann knew Nick just about as well as his owner, and he loved his just as much. The two mourned together about this loss for countless hours.

* * *

><p><strong>In Minnesota...<strong>

The big vacationing group left Denise after the first week to meet up with Linda's mother. Blu referred to Linda's mom as Grandma Gunderson, although her name was actually Stacy. When they arrived at the house, which was located in Roseville, Fernando and Tulio gave Stacy a warm, welcoming hug and they both told stories of how they meet Stacy's daughter.

"You are such a charming little boy Fernando...and quite independent for your age. I see you becoming a powerful business man someday." Stacy spoke softly but welcoming to her grandson. Fernando itched the back of his head.

"I dunno grandma...maybe...but thank you for the compliment." He responded, giving her a large grin.

"And Tulio, you are a great man. Normally I was like a father with Linda's dating, never liked any guys she brought home. You on the other hand, are just so adorable and quirky and nerdy. Linda and you make a great couple." Tulio smiled as he drank a cup of hot tea.

"Why thank you Mrs. Gunderson. I guess I am one of a kind...but it's great that you don't hate me." Tulio announced awkwardly, putting on a haphazard smile. Linda rolled her eyes playfully as he brought over three cups of hot chocolate to the birds.

"Of course she doesn't hate you honey, why would she? " Linda giggled while walking away from the birds. "Jewel, you'll love this stuff. I know Blu does." She winked back to the Spix macaws. She put three colored bendy straws in one of the cups of the hot chocolate for Cobalt, Diamond, and Isaac to share.

"Careful, it's extremely hot guys." Blu pointed out before hovering over the warm, steamy beverage, "Man I can't wait...It's been too long. Yes! six marshmallows, the perfect ration! Linda remembers!" Blu exclaimed gleefully. Jewel looked at him funny and chuckled before taking in a sip. Her eyes opened wide from delight.

"Oh my...Blu this is amazing! This hot chocolate drink is delicious!" Jewel shouted, taking another sip. Blu rapidly nodded his head in agreement, displaying a wide grin, "Oh yeah it is!" He mentioned before taking a swig of the drink. He then looked at his kids, who were all hopping around in excitement.

"This stuff's great! We need to come to Minnesota more often!" Isaac exclaimed before flying up to the rim of the cup and pulling his straw down.

"Oh yeah...We should take this home instead of a jar of snow daddy!" Colbalt pitched in, following Isaac's motions. Diamond nodded in agreement while she too drank a bit of the sweet drink. Stacy then walked up to the birds and smiled.

"Linda...Blu sure has been busy. But it's so great to see him settled down like this." Blu almost spat out his drink upon hearing this comment. He frown in annoyance while gulping his drink.

"Why does everyone say that!" He pouted, Jewel wakled over to him and patted him on the back playfully.

"I know I'm so proud of him." Linda answered as she walked over to the birds again, smiling at Blu's stern face.

* * *

><p><strong>In Mills: One week Later...<strong>

"I'm sorry Dylan, I have no choice but to fire you." Keenan said softly to his employee as he hung his head low in shame. "Look, as I've said two weeks ago, business is business, and it doesn't help when you come to work and stare at the oven all day, letting the food burn and pissing off customers." The head chef looked at Dylan sadly. "No hard feelings? Even if I just screwed you over financially? Dylan nodded slowly.

"Yeah no hard feelings Keenan." Dylan muttered, not raising his head an inch. Keenan still stared at the young man sympathetically.

"I'm so sorry to hear about your brother dying. Look, I know that's what has been on your mind, but you still could tried to work. But I knew your brother well, and I really wanna help you out, so I'll finish your pay for the rest of this week, adding in those extra two dollars-per-hour you lost a few weeks ago, plus I'll send you a check for one thousand dollars to help so you can go see your old bro in Brazil one last time." Keenan said sympathetically, trying to smile at Dylan. This time Dylan raised his head to his former employer.

"Thank you Keenan. Sure I could've taken an emergency vacation, but I still needed the money to go. I know I've been a lousy worker and I shouldn't have screwed up, not matter what had happened. Still, no hard feelings, just maybe when I get back, do you think I can get another chance?" Dylan asked with a mixture of hope and sadness in his voice.

"Definitely." Keenan replied in a whisper as Dylan handed him his apron. "Good luck man." Dylan waved to his head chef while leaving the restaurant.

Dylan entered his house sadly, not greeting his pet. Brann eyed him suspiciously as Dylan immediately entered the kitchen and cooked himself some fried rice for dinner. After eating, Dylan silently grabbed the phone and walked to his room and sat down at his computer. The young man called a funeral home. "Hi there, this is Dylan Jackson, I live up in the United States, but my brother Nicholas lives in Rio and I wanted to put him in your funeral home for a week and have him embalmed since I still need to gather money to go to Brazil. I sent his body to another funeral home but I realized that the home wasn't connected to any church, therefore they couldn't help with a funeral plan." For the next two hours, Dylan talked with the lady at the funeral home and arraged a funeral plan and it's cost. After hanging up the phone, Dylan turned to see Brann staring at him.

"How was work?" The macaw cooed in human dielect to his owner.

"Not good Brann...got fired. We are still going to Rio de Janeiro though, but I'll have to wait another week for the money. Don't worry, things will get brighter one day." Dylan said as he pet Brann on his head.

* * *

><p><strong>In Minnesota<strong>...

Linda decided to take Tulio and Fernando snowmobiling while the birds stayed at home with Linda's mother. The blue macaws gather around the dinner table while Stacy gave them blueberry pancakes.

"Ha I know Tulio will get mad at me for this, you know, not being your normal diet and all, but you guys are on vacation! Just enjoy yourselves. The maple syrup is right here." Stacy told the birds as she placed a bottle of syrup down.

"Wow, Grandma Gunderson's food is delicious!" Diamond piped gleefully as she ate her pancakes.

"I want hot chocolate with this." Cobalt noted as he ripped apart his pancake.

"Cobalt sweetie, you know that Grandma Gunderson ran out of hot coco mix. We'll have more when she leaves to go to the store." Jewel informed on Cobalt's remark, "By the way, these taste better than the waffles Tulio made us when I was healing."

Blu heartily laughed, "Oh come on honey, you gotta give the man credit, although he shouldn't have put grapes in the mix, that was a little odd. But yes, Grandma makes great food."

After eating and Stacy left to the grocery store, the blue macaw family flew over to the couch and decided to watch a few movies. Blu helped out by making some popcorn, taking the last two bags. The first movie they played was the original Friday the Thirteenth. Blu ate his popcorn with no expression as the movie went on. He used to be afraid of the movie, but after watching it three times, he realized it was kinda corny. However, his family didn't think so. Upon the first death scene, The three kids mouth gaped and Jewel dropped her piece of popcorn on the floor.

"Holy Cow! This Jason guy is scary dad!" Diamond quivered in her seat.

"Ah! Too much blood! Why are we watching this?" Isaac shouted in fear.

"Mommy!" Cobalt yelled, covering his head in between the seat cushions. Jewel pulled his head out and comforted him. Isaac couldn't help but snicker at his brother, although he was still quaking.

"Not so tough now eh Colby?" Isaac condescended. Colbalt shot him a serious glare.

"Oh come on! This movie is so cheesy!" Blu laughed while eating his popcorn with ease, despite some blood getting spilled.

"Blu this movie is horrifying! It's gonna give us all nightmares!" Jewel yelled angrily in Blu's face.

"Come on Jewe-"

"Blu!" The father macaw sighed in disappointment as he ejected the movie and put in a more kid friendly comedy movie. Jewel was happier with Blu after the new movie was over. She cuddled up beside him and took a nap. Blu looked at her lovingly and smiled as he observed his kids through one of the windows playing in the snow once again.

* * *

><p><strong>One Week Later...<strong>

After watching Stacy draw a beautiful sketch of the Christ the Redeemer Statue, Fernando attempted to draw as well. Both Tulio and Linda watched over their adopted son while Linda's mother gave some tips. They could tell that their son had found a new hobby. While watching however, Tulio received a call from his smartphone.

"Hello this is Tulio Monteiro. Oh hi there Mr. Santos how are you?" Tulio greeted, Linda then turned around in confusion.

"Mr. Santos? As in...the person that helps fund our bird sanctuary?" Tulio only nodded, still listening to the man on the other end of the line.

"Yes. Umhm...yes the Spix macaws already bred. Wait...sir, that won't work. No no no it won't trust me, I'm an ornithologist. They can make more offspring from their own since they mate for life, but I'm sure they won't like it if we're pressuring them into it. Wait, are you being serious!" Tulio suddenly flared up, causing everyone, including the birds, to stare at Tulio. "Alright I'm sorry Mr. Santos but I'm telling you...neither of the birds will be willing to do that, but I _guess_ we can give it a shot, despite the guilt factor I'm going to have afterwards. Alright bye then sir." Tulio finished, putting the phone back into his pockets. He let out a long sigh.

"What was that all about?" Linda asked worriedly. Tulio shook his head in crossly before replying.

"Mr. Santos is threatening to cut our funding." Tulio muttered under his breath. Everyone immediately flipped out. Blu, who was helping his family put together a puzzle, accidentally kicked up the whole thing in anger. Needless to say, they had to start over.

"What? Why? He knows we have one of the rarest birds on earth!" Linda shouted, becoming cross as well. Tulio took her hands and lead her outside (yet they weren't wearing anything to cope with the cold) to briefly explain so no one could hear. Blu and Jewel moved over to see Linda get progressively more upset as Tulio explained the phone call. Blu even thought he could see Linda mouth the words: 'Blu wouldn't do it.' As the two walked in, Linda tried to regain her previous figure.

"I still don't know what that man is thinking...but whatever..."Linda muttered angrily. Tulio just rubbed her back softly, trying to calm her more.

"Um...okay that was weird." Jewel shrugged. Blu nodded but still felt concerned.

"I think it has to do with us though."

"Dad I hate you...I think you lost one of the pieces with your flying ninja kick." Cobalt sarcassitly blabbered as he search through the pile of puzzle pieces. Blu chuckled nervously.

"Um...yeah...sorry about that." Blu apologized before searching for the piece.

* * *

><p><strong>In Mills...<strong>

Dylan sat in the kitchen with a mesy stack of paperwork and a calculator. He was started to get frustrated. "Damn these bills." He muttered as he looked at the cost of funeral in total. He groaned as he picked up the phone to call his land landlord once more.

"Hi Reggie. Look I need you to further that extension." Dylan said, getting straight to the point. "Two and a half more weeks. What? Reggie my brother just passed away. Yeah thank you. But I've spent nearly all the money from his life insurance and a forth of my savings for the funeral and I haven't even booked a flight to Brazil yet. I'll probably be using more of my savings and all the money on me for the trip. I'll only have about half of the payment by the time I get back. Yes thank you very much."

Meanwhile, Brann was using the computer in Dylan's room to listen to music. All of a sudden, he could hear his owner scream at his landlord. Startled and afraid, Brann decided to look back at the computer screen.

"So you are going to raise my rent! I understand that I have to pay for both January and February's rent but to raise us another thousand because I am asking another extension? I know I'm supposed to pay the rent in a few days, but I'm about to go flat out broke! If I pay your rent I can't go to my brother's funeral, that's how broke I am! Fine, listen, it will be done. Yes I know this is my last chance. Goodbye." Dylan finished, breathing heavily to try to blow off steam. Brann peered out of the doorway.

'Well he's mad...not angry...but mad...it's just bad timing that's all.' The bird thought to himself, trying to think of happier thoughts. Dylan walked in his room with a fake smile to try and lighten the atmosphere.

"Hey Brann. Mind if I get on the computer. I'm going to book us a ticket to Rio." Dylan spoke through his teeth, still a little upset about his previous conversation. Brann, still afraid, moved aside without questioning Dylan.

* * *

><p><strong>In Minnesota<strong>: **One week later...**

"Yep. It's odd, there's no straight flight from Minnesota to Brazil. We have to go to Wyoming first." Tulio informed Linda's mother.

"Well whatever the case, you guys have a safe trip back. Maybe I'll come and visit you next time." Stacy chuckled as she gave everyone a hug. The birds started squealing goodbyes to Stacy as Linda put them together in one large kernel for the plane trip.

"Bye grandma. I had a great time here. And I'm going to continue drawing, maybe I'll be as good as you." Fernando said as he broke from the hug Stacy gave him.

"Bye ma, and yes please do visit us. Or we'll visit again...I dunno." Linda said as she embraced her mother in a long hug.

"Now you better hurry on, you don't wanna be late for your flight." Stacy said, pushing Linda away softly so the hug didn't last forever. Everyone waved goodbye to Linda's mother as they entered the airport.

About an hour had passed, Linda, Tulio, and Fernando were waiting for their flight while the Spix macaws finally got onto the cargo hold of the plane. Another thirty minutes passed before the plane started to board passengers.

"Jeez...it's taking a long time." Blu spat out impatiently.

"That's because they still have to shovel the mountain of snow off the plane." Jewel joked as she nudged Blu. Her mate chuckled at the little comment.

Once the plane finally took off at reached elevation, Blu unlatched the switch on the kernel and the family walked around the cargo hold. Jewel spotted an oddly placed little window in the area, and she approached it.

"Goodbye Tinysota. It was nice meeting you." She giggled as she looked at the Minnesota ground one last time.

* * *

><p>Once the Minnesota plane had landed, Dylan already had arrived at the airport in Cheyenne and sent off his luggage that were to be loaded onto the plane, included a small cage for Brann. Now all Dylan had to do was make it up to the flight gate in thirty minutes. As he walked pass the fast food chains, Linda, Tulio, and Fernando decided to grab something to eat. Ten minutes had passed and the kernel containing the rare birds was transferred into the cargo hold that Brann was on. Once the plane started boarding, Dylan looked at his ticket to see where he sat. He plopped down on the end seat to the three-seat aisle. Just then Linda, Tulio, and Fernando walked up to him.<p>

"Excuse me sir, but you are in our spot." Tulio mention politely to Dylan. Embarrassed, Dylan looked around for his real seat before looking up at the family and getting up.

"I'm so sorry guys. It was a mistake, must've read my ticket wrong. Here just let me get my stuff." Dylan apologized as he grabbed his carry-on bags from the shelves above the seats.

"It's okay. Thank you very much." Linda told Dylan as she started placing her carry-ons on on the overhead bin.

Yet again, once the plane reached altitude, Blu opened the kernel door and the family wandered around. They searched aimlessly together when they came to Brann's cage, where the military macaw was sleeping.

"Hi there." Blu greeted loudly. Brann groaned and tiredly looked up to see five blue feathered birds several feet away from his cage.

"Hi." he mumbled.

"Want me to help you outta the cage?" Blu asked kindly. Jewel slapped Blu on the back of the head.

"Can't you see that the bird is sleeping?" Jewel questioned Blu sternly.

"Yeah...I'm kinda tired. Didn't get much sleep. Thanks for the offer though." Brann muttered slowly as he watched the Spix macaws wander around again. The military macaw then slowly shut his eyes again for rest.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Hey looks like you pulled through this extremely long chapter. This beast I believe is as long as all of the previous chapter combined!<strong>

**Anyways...I'd really like it if I could get more feedback from more readers. Please if you read and have the time, just put a small review of what you thought, and if you really wanna go into a deep review...then shoot. Even if the comments are a little negative, I'll still manage.  
><strong>

**After writing the beginning segment it was hard to put in all the references and humor (btw...I hope I did fine at humor). This chapter made me feel depressed. I hope the message in this chapter got through to readers. Sorry if this was tedious and if the mild cussing had offended anyone.  
><strong>

**So again thanks for reading this long chapter! Please tell me what ya think of the story so far! Oh and if you spot a grammar problem, please point it out so I can fix it! BrokenMechanix out.**


	5. Paradise City

**Chapter 5**

**Paradise City  
><strong>

In the back of Brann's cage sat an iPod nano with a chintzy set of headphones that were cut and super-glued to fit snugly on the military macaw's head. The bird chuckled to himself sheepishly as he slipped the eight dollar headphones on his head.

"It's been a while old friend...ever since Dylan got that stereo system set up, but alas we are together...my have you gotten a little rusty." Brann murmured quietly to himself while looking at some of the fuzz on the headphones that were starting to fall off. "Eh..a little tape will fix ya right up." He noted to himself again before turning on the iPod and choosing a song. The macaw walked to the back of his cage and slumped against the wall of it, resting his eyes once again. A blaring succession of guitar notes came out of the audio device and into his ear holes. Smirking while bobbing his up and down, Brann started to mouth the lyrics to the song. He then slowly drifted back into sleep. Meanwhile, the group of five blue macaws slowly made their way back into their own kernel.

"Aw I don't wanna go back in mom." Cobalt and Diamond both whined. Isaac stared at their cage for a short period of time before making his remark.

"Well, it's not exactly roomy with all five of us in there. Why do we have to go in again anyways?" He asked curiously, turning around to face his mother.

"I'm sorry sweeties, but dad says that it will be bad if the cargo hold is open and we are flying about." Jewel said patiently and with a motherly tone. Blu then landed beside her.

"Yeah mom's right. I think Linda will get fined...I'm not too sure how it works. Besides, we are almost back in Brazil, only three more hours left, just take a nap it'll pass the time a lot quicker, then we'll be out of the cage after we get to the aviary." Blu informed as he walked inside the kernel first. His children all sighed as they too waddled inside the pet box. Jewel just rolled her eyes playfully before walking in too, then Blu made his way to the cage's door and shut it again.

* * *

><p>A few hours had passed. Dylan, who napped on the plane, could feel it start to descend slowly. He tilted his head up and stared out of the window to be greeted by a beautiful city. The young man shook his head and put on a small grin.<p>

'Finally here...' He thought. At that moment, a flight attendant made the announcement that they had finally arrived and were about ten minutes from landing and instructed everyone to fasten their seat-belts again. After following the attendant's request, Dylan continued to gaze out of his window until the plane finally arrived at the airport.

Tulio found a way onto the outside of the plane and requested to get the Spix's macaws out of the cargo hold while Linda and Fernando went to retrieve their other luggage inside the airport. Dylan did the same thing and walked towards the baggage belt area. However, he had a different method of retrieving his bird than Tulio. After grabbing his large suitcase at the moving belt, Brann's cage came out. The macaw squealed with joy as he rode slowly on the belt after being flopped around in his cage from of the rest of the conveyor deep inside the airport.

"Haha that was awesome." He laughed to himself dizzily. Dylan just smirked as he picked up the cage. He then put it on top of his suitcase.

"There, you had your fun Brann, now let's go find our hotel place and check in." Dylan said before walking to the rent-a-car booth. Brann cawed happily in response.

Once on the road with a rental 1994 Chrysler Convertible, Dylan popped down the roof so both he and his bird could feel the great sunny and warm weather while spectating the beautiful sights as they drove passed them. Luckily the two got to see the Ipamena beach

"Damn. This place looks so amazing. I can't wait to see what our hotel and the area around it looks like." Brann said while he gazed upon the impressive sights with a slight open smile. When the car stopped at a crosswalk, The green parrot then heard something land on top of the cage and start singing bossa nova music. He scratched his head and glanced up to meet two pair of eyes from some smaller birds. He saw the yellow canary Nico and the red-crested cardinal Pedro singing something in Portuguese. "Um...hi, what exactly are you guys doing?" Brann asked drily and rudely, which caused the two singing birds to stop and stare at the macaw blankly.

"You could ask a little nicer next time man." Pedro muttered under his breath.

"Sorry, my bad." Brann apologized, trying to avoid eye contact.

"So uh...you here for Carnaval?" Nico asked eagerly with a 'eyebrows' raised as he flew to face Brann so he wouldn't have to keep staring up. The military stared at Nico with confusion once more.

Pedro looked around in deep thought. "Hm...Déjà vu..." Nico chuckled silently at his friend's joke.

"Wait...Carnaval is this week?"

"Yep five days from now!" Nico responded gleefully, spinning his bottle-cap hat.

"Sorry guys I don't think I'll be going...there is something more...personal going on." Brann answered softly, his half smiled changing into a slight frown.

"Oh...well we won't pester you anymore bird. Hey by the way, do you want us to bust open that cage for ya?" Pedro smirked. Nico rolled his eyes. The car then started to move again slowly.

"Nah it's okay guys. I can open the cage door myself at anytime. Thanks for the offer though." Brann said smugly.

"Aight that's cool." Pedro responded.

"Well we wasted enough of your time bro, but if you happen to see us around, holla back okay?" Nico offered as he and Pedro started to fly off.

"Yeah definitely!" The caged bird yelled back.

"See ya. Oh and nice phones ya got there." Pedro complimented, pointing both wings at the headset around Brann's neck while floating in the air.

"Thanks. Aves mais tarde." Brann said, bidding adieu to the two small birds with a quick flick of his head upwards. The macaw then unlatched the cage and flew up to the passenger's seat next to Dylan and plopped himself down.

"Hey welcome to paradise!" Dylan shouted excitedly to his feathery companion, taking a quick glance at the bird, who started to hum the chorus to the Green Day song. "He, I expected you to do that. Oh and I see you are wearing those headphones again. Are they still good?" Brann responded by giving an okay symbol with his foot.

* * *

><p>Once the Spix macaw family were released from their cage by Linda at the observation tower, they all flew straight into the jungle to find their friends. Blu and Jewel were so excited about reuniting with their friends that they flew at top sped, leaving their kids behind. Cobalt put on an evil grin to symbolize he was ready for competition and he tried to fly fast enough to pass his parents.<p>

"Wait! Mom! Dad! Slow Down!" Diamond and Isaac both shouted as they stopped to catch their breath. Jewel and Blu halted simultaneously and turned around to face the two exhausted kids. Upon turning around, Cobalt crashed into his father.

"Sorry about that Diamond and Isaac, we're just excited." Jewel chuckled embarrassingly while averting her eyes randomly. Blu itched the back of his neck from embarrassment.

"I can tell." Isaac laughed as he and his sibling flew next to their parents. The family then took off again, but at a slower pace this time.

After another ten minutes of flying, the blue birds reached their destination: Rafael's house. Jewel was able to spot a few of Rafael and Eva's kids playing in front of their home, but the rest of the kids were hidden from sight. Blu crept forward, grimacing at the sound of his feet softly touching the ground. All of a sudden one of the kids that was playing turned around and looked at the frightened Blu and Jewel.

"Intruders! ATTACK!" The little toucan shouted. Almost instantly, the rest of the kids popped out of the treetops surrounding the home, and every single one of them had a fruit in their wing and were tempted to deploy them at the older parrots. The group that was playing started to charge at Blu and Jewel. The whole scenario made both macaws' eyes widen while their pupils shrank. Just in time to save their feathers, Cobalt, Isaac, and Diamond jumped out fro behind their parents and shouted hi. "ABORT! ABORT! We have friendlies in the area!" The same toucan commanded while still charging. The whole flock of toucans flew down and hugged the Spix macaw children instead of attacking their parents. Blu wiped off his forehead and sighed in relief.

"We just dodged a bullet...again." He noted, breathing heavily still from anxiety. Jewel nodded as she exhaled deeply.

"What is all the commotion about crianças?" A female keel-billed toucan shouted as he peeped her head out of her nest within the tree hollow. It was Eva, and she quickly turned her attention and then spotted Blu and Jewel. Speechless, she flew down excitedly to greet them with a long warm hug. "Oh Blu and Jewel! It's so great to see you, it feels like forever!" Eva smiled widely while releasing form the hug.

"I know it's so great to see you again Eva." Jewel responded, returning the wide smile.

"Hey where's Rafael?" Blu asked politely to the toucan mother. Eva nodded her head and turned back to her nest and called out to her mate.

"Ralfy! Meu amor! The blu macaw family has returned!" With that sentence said, Rafael popped his head out sharply, showcasing an expression of surprise.

"No way! You guys are back! But you are supposed to be back in two more days. Oh well who cares? It's great to see mis amigos once more!" Rafael flew down to Blu and Jewel and swooped both of them up in a tight hug. After putting both birds down, Blu cleared his throat.

"Yeah we were supposed to leave two days from now, but something came up at the sanctuary and we had to leave, but hey it still works out, we get to see you guys again yet still enjoyed our long vacation!" Blu exclaimed, glancing over at his children, who were playing tag with Rafael's kids.

"That's great to hear that you had fun!" Eva responded, her smile only growing wider.

"Yes. You two should tell us all about the vacation, I'm very interested to hear about where Blu grew up." Rafael suggested eagerly. His mate nodded to his statement.

Jewel smiled as she started off. "Minnesota was actually pretty amazing. I had no idea how small a human civilization could get." She laughed, poking fun about how small Mooselake was. Blu rolled his eyes as she continued. "But seriously, although it was cold, the sights with all of the snow and everything was just as breathtakingly pretty...but Brazil is still more beautiful." Rafael and Eva listened intently as Jewel both complimented and laughed at the Midwestern state. "The kids sure enjoyed playing in the snow, we even had a fun little snow fight with some old 'friends' of Blu's; plus we made a really cute looking snow man. Oh and I'm normally not into human food, but we had quite a lot of it there, and I must say, hot chocolate is amazing. Great change of pace. I'm so glad Blu talked me into going."

"That's amazing amigo...made you should take us next time Blu. It sounds like fun." Rafael joked to his blue friend. Blu laughed with Rafael before realizing that him and Jewel were needed at the aviary.

"Oh hey Rafael, Eva, you guys don't mind watching over our little ones for a while do you? Tulio mentioned earlier that he needed me and Jewel for something important at the sanctuary's aviary." Blu asked nervously, feeling like he became a giant burden to his toucan friend.

"Oh not at all!" Both Eva and Rafael answered contently. "The kids are having fun anyways. It's been a while since we've seen them so how could we say no? Just be safe you two." Rafael added on while Blu and Jewel walked up to their kids and said goodbye.

"We're just going to Tulio's lab for some check-ups probably. Just have fun and don't stress out your Uncle Ralfy or Aunt Eva." Jewel instructed to her young. Diamond, Cobalt, and Isaac nodded their heads in compliance before giving their mother and father a hug and watching them fly off to the aviary.

* * *

><p>Brann looked around in shock and disgust as he was staring into the pits of the favelas. Dylan, who was must less effected by the slums, continued to drive by poor neighborhoods, only letting out a heavy sigh. It was like a culture shock to Brann, one minute he saw this beautiful city filled with an amazing view and awesome-looking beaches, the next minute he was staring at small housing complexes that were immediately next to each other and were littered with graffiti.<p>

"Holy crap," Brann bluntly told himself, "this place looks worse than home. To think that _I_ lived in the ghetto." His shocked tone would eventually form into that of anger when Dylan finally pulled up to their hotel blaring heavy metal music. The music of choice definitely got some odd looks from bystanders, but that's besides the point. The duo pulled up to a shanty-looking hotel just on the outskirts of Rocinha. This hotel could have been compared to a poor, run-down, local motel in a small town that victims would stay at in cheesy horror movies. Dylan tried his best to smile while still giving his macaw a look of regret and empathy.

"Look I know it's not much buddy, but with how much I had to spend already, I couldn't afford a higher-end place to say at." Dylan said to Brann, who still displayed a shocked expression. The colorful bird then started to shake his head slowly as his gritted his beak.

"Ugh. I can't believe what I'm seeing. Ah I frikin' hate this! _WHY DO WE HAVE TO BE SO DAMN POOR_!" The military macaw shouted at the tops of his lungs blatantly. Dylan looked over at his parrot freaking out and squawking frantically and quite loudly. The young man frowned upon him, and almost as if he speak Brann's avian dialect, he knew why his pet was greatly upset.

"Hey! Knock it off Brann!" Dylan strictly ordered, raising his voice slightly. Brann stopped ranting to himself and looked over to his owner without moving his facial muscles one centimeter. "I already told you this is where we are staying. I've spent a lot on this trip already, nearly twelve thousand dollars, and you need to learn to be a little more respectful man. I truly think that the Pantera and Slipknot CD's are getting to you." He mentioned before clicking the radio off. Brann looked at his seat in defeat.

"Besides, this is a vacation and you have the liberty to fly around and such, so you don't have to be stuck in the hotel room for the whole eight days." Then Dylan's face turned unusually hesitant. "Um...actually, you probably couldn't stay in the hotel room to long anyways. Uh...this hotel isn't exactly pet friendly, so I'll have to sneak you into the room." Dylan chuckled uneasily, hoping that he didn't set off Brann. Unfortunately he did because right after his nervous chuckles trailed off, Brann stared at his owner with blind fury.

"_YOU GODDAMN MORON!_" Brann shouted to his owner in his human dialect. He then realized what he had said and instantly regretted it. Brann's rage disassembled itself to show a sorry-ridden face. Dylan was incredibly shocked at his pet's remark and had no response to give. An awkward silence followed for about a minute before Dylan reached into the back seat and grabbed the bird cage.

"Well we should go in now." He muttered solemnly as Brann walked slowly in the cage. Dylan lifted the cage up onto his suitcase and covered them both with a large blanket. In the cage, Brann couldn't help but hit himself repeatedly on the head for what he had just spat out.

After walking in and getting a glimpse of their room, Dylan let Brann out from his cage. "Alright, I'm sure you don't wanna stay here forever, so I'll go let you go explore the city and the jungles. But um...just make sure you come back around ten o' clock at the latest so I know that you aren't lost or something. I still trust you." Dylan smiled happily to his bird, who smiled right back. "Oh and if your lucky, maybe you'll find your bro Wyatt." He added in, however, his voice contained uncertainty, as if he had told Brann something wrong. Excitedly, the military macaw bumped the windshield with his beak and Dylan let him out onto the tiny porch where he would watch his bird fly off straight into the jungles of Rio de Janeiro.

* * *

><p>The two Spix's macaws- Blu and Jewel -were greeted into the sanctuary's aviary building by Fernando, who stopped his new hobby of drawing to open a window for them. "What's up guys?" The boy asked as he rubbed both of the birds necks as they landed on his shoulders. "I'm sure you're hear to see Mom and Dad right? Since, well you know, they needed you for something so important that I couldn't know any of the details." Fernando said to the birds lightly but sarcastically. Blu and Jewel looked at each other before nodded their heads. "Alright then. Mom and Dad are in room A12 checking up on some new hurt birds they located in town. I still find it odd though that Dad goes to work on his first day back from the vacation." With that said, Blu hopped off Fernando's shoulders and wrote 'thank you' on a blank paper he had lying on the table and Blu and Jewel headed towards the room Fernando mentioned.<p>

Coincidentally, when Blu and Jewel found room A12, they saw that the door was opened and could proceed inside. There they saw Tulio and Linda observing a scarlet macaw's actions after giving it gauze to a large gash on its stomach. Linda, turned around to meet Blu and his mate when she heard him imitate a ringing alarm clock. "Ha that was a great way to get her attention." Jewel giggled, making a face to stop herself from completely laughing.

"Oh hi there Blu! And hi Jewel! Don't worry, Tulio will get someone else to check up on this little guy while we take care of you guys." Linda informed as she tapped Tulio on his shoulder. The ornithologist turned his head to face the birds and smiled at them then walked up to a fellow employee and asked him to look after the scarlet macaw.

"Alright we're going to do some routine check-up and then we have to do a...um...well...uh some extra special...wait...no...that's not right.." The nerdy scientist babbled on, only confusing the birds. Linda rolled her eyes at her husband's goofiness.

"Blu, Jewel, after you're check-ups, we have to put you guys back in the big artificial habitats again. Don't worry, it's only for a couple of hours. It is a new official protocol according to Mr. Santos, the guy who manages our funds for the sanctuary. He says it'll help further research about your lifestyle and whatnot." Linda lied expertly, not sounding or looking uneasy. When Tulio regained his composure, he bobbed his head quickly to agree with Linda as he picked up both birds. Blu gave Linda a

"Yep that's exactly what I meant to say." Tulio hopelessly tried to redeem himself with an as-a-matter-of-fact tone. He then leaned towards Linda's ear as they walked towards a different room, "That actually sounded legitimate. Good job sweetie." He whispered quiet enough so that Jewel, who was resting on his arm, and Blu, who was resting on Linda's arm, could not hear him. Linda shook her head in guilt and tilted towards Tulio's ear.

"I still don't wanna do this Tulio. Once both birds find out, they are going to hate us." Linda whispered to Tulio with seriousness in her voice. Tulio nodded his head in agreement.

"Trust me Linda, I know more stuff than Mr. Santos. They will not dare do anything in those habitats. That jerk just gave me some stupid task that I at least have to attempt so we can still have this sanctuary. We'll just explain to Blu and Jewel later about this, okay?" Tulio whispered again, choosing his words wisely as he was still aware that the macaws were in their presence. Blu and Jewel still could tell that something was wrong and exchanged glances of concern, albeit that they heard nothing of Linda and Tulio's conversation.

* * *

><p>Brann soared through the canopy's of the rainforest just north of Rocinha. To help pass time, the military macaw brought along his iPod and his headphones. He clutched the iPod tightly in his talons while searching the rainforest for any signs of Wyatt. The macaw had too much on his mind and couldn't seem to focus, nearly hitting trees as he flew around. Brann had no success at finding traces of his brother. After a two and a half hour search in the one section of the jungle, Brann stopped and kept himself high in the air above the treetops. He was able to look around and she the amazing sights he saw before. Sugarloaf mountain, Christ the Redeemer, and a nearby beach; he even got another view of the favela they were staying within, which made it seem a bit better.<p>

"Eh, slums are slums." The bird denied, shaking the thought from his head, "But I guess they do look a little cooler from up here." He chuckled to himself before he dove back down into the jungle to continue his search.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Welp...everyone's in Rio now. w00t! :D. Wow I didn't realized how much more of an ass Brann is in this chapter compared to the previous one. Oh well...<br>**

**As always, thanks for reading! Please review if you have the time and point out any grammar mistakes you spot as well.  
><strong>

**~BrokenMechanix out**


	6. Swap Meet

**Chapter 6**

**Swap Meet**

Tulio stared at Blu and Jewel blankly after conducting a brand new check-up procedure, hoping to elicit a response from either of them. "Ah come on guys, say something! Come on! It's important." He whined, throwing his hands up into the air like a small child. The two macaws looked at each other with confusion as the wacky scientist danced around his personal office once more, hoping to communicate with them. Linda stood in the corner of the room, sighing heavily while she moved her hand up to her face and shook her head.

"Um...this is new...and really, really embarrassing...for Tulio anyways." Jewel stated blatantly, trying to hold in her laughter, "What is he even trying to do? Look stupid? It sure is working if that's the case."

Blu let out a single laugh, "He's trying to communicate with us again. Why he insists on doing it this way, I have no clue; I mean, I could just write to him or Linda about anything. But I think Tulio is trying to check if our larynges are still functioning properly, which again, there is probably another way to check. So yes, looking stupid is definitely what he is doing."

While Tulio was dancing around, Fernando peeked his head into the room with a drawing in his hands. "Oh dad, I know how you love birds so much so I made you this to hang in your...um..." The boy trailed off as he watched his father flail his limbs randomly and trot in circles in a small radius in front of the table Blu and Jewel sat on. Fernando raised an eyebrow and shook his head, "Well...never mind about it. I'll so you it later, when you're not...uh...busy." Fernando then quickly shut the door so he wouldn't have to see the embarrassing display any longer.

Fernando's appearance and completely thrown-off facial expression caused both Blu and Jewel to burst out in hysterical laughter. Linda even had to giggle at the little incident. Yet, Tulio was completely oblivious as to why everyone was laughing, and more importantly, the fact that Fernando walked in on his father acting like an idiot. After Linda explained, Tulio let out a nervous chuckle. "Well it's good to see that you can still speak." The ornithologist mumbled as he recovered from his awkward state-of-mind. Jewel rolled her eyes at Tulio's sentence as the said scientist let out a sigh of grief. "Well I just that's it for your checkup. Sorry guys but you have to go to the artificial habitats again for observation." As Tulio mentioned this, Linda put on a look of guilt and turned away from the Spix macaws. Although annoyed still about the 'new research protocol' or whatever Linda called it and going back to the over-sized cage again, Jewel remained optimistic about the situation.

"Well as long as I'm in 'there' with you Blu, and not alone, I'll be fine with going back in those 'things.'" Jewel told Blu lovingly, yet still expressing her dislike of the artificial habitats by adding an emphasis on a few words. Before Blu could respond with some sentimental, and flirty remark, Tulio sighed loudly again.

"I know you guys are going to hate us, but we gotta separate you two." Tulio bumbled lowly as if he had just understood Jewel. Both birds hung their beaks in shock. Blu quickly recovered and tried to reassure Jewel.

"Don't worry, everything will be okay. It's only for a few hours right?" Blu muttered nervously as Linda picked him up slowly. Tulio did the same with Jewel, but he bit his lip just in case she was about to go through separation anxiety already and bite him. Blu yelled 'I love you' to Jewel as the two humans walked into two different halls and placed the birds in their respective habitat.

"I'm so sorry guys." Linda said as she pushed Blu into the chamber. Afterwards she hung her head in shame.

* * *

><p>Brann continued his search for his brother in the same vicinity for another hour or two before deciding to fly a little deeper into the jungle for clues. He flew past every bird he saw and asked if they saw anyone like him and called themselves Wyatt. Another hour had passed, so Brann took a break and perched himself on a tree branch to rest.<p>

'Gah this is getting a little tedious.' The green parrot thought to himself as he started to get flustered with the situation. He kept in mind on what he already tried, then he realized something and slapped himself in the face with his wing.

"Dammit." He muttered, not removing the wing from his face, 'I asked if anyone has seen someone that looks _like me_. I completely forgot that Wyatt had red feathers instead of light blue ones on his wings.' The ashamed bird thought then stroked his head.

'Plus, the red feathers on my head extend in a narrow triangle to my neck, great, I probably have gotten birds to look for someone completely different.' He thought sarcastically after he remembered him and his brother's rare feather patterns. Brann let out a sigh of annoyance as he went back to work finding his brother.

* * *

><p>It had been only an hour since both Blu and Jewel entered their separate artificial habitats. Tulio had walked into his office, followed by Linda, and set up two monitors so that they could check on both Blu and Jewel simultaneously. "Well here goes three hours of our life down the drain." Linda muttered with agitation and guilt both present in her tone. An hour ago, both Blu and Jewel wandered around their fake-jungle cages, clueless as what to do. In Jewel's cage however, a male blue-and-yellow macaw came out and swooned over her, which irritated Jewel, and that was apparent to Tulio and Linda. The two humans just stared at each other, clenching their teeth and putting on a fearful expression. They knew what was going to happen.<p>

"Go away you freak, I already told you, I have a mate. Now quit following me!" Jewel commanded to the other macaw, who was trailing her and still trying to remain pretentious about how good they both looked together.

"Come on baby bird, Acario can take care of you better than your mate. Besides, your probably just lying and playing hard to get. I mean, look at you, as beautiful as Rio itself and even prettier than myself. No need to be afraid beautiful, we can be one gorgeous looking couple." The blue-and-yellow macaw flattered smugly, trying to give Jewel the 'smolder' face. Jewel rolled her eyes and turned to face the cocky male bird.

"Alright Acario, for the last time, I already have a mate named Blu. He is definitely sweet and more caring about me than you. Plus I already am the mother of three wonderful children. So again, BACK OFF!" Jewel snarled, trying her best to not let her temper overpower her. The male macaw laughed.

"Blu, what a horrible name. Sounds like he's one unattractive and awkward bird. And why did you have kids? They only weigh you down. Just dump that guy and your kids, they're worthless, live a more plentiful life with me baby bird." Acario responded coolly. Jewel's temper snapped at the moment he said to leave her family behind.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Jewel shouted at the top of her lungs, "I will NEVER leave my family behind for an overconfident, narcissistic prick like you! They definitely have more worth than you!" Jewel's temper finally got the best of her. She proceeded to tackle the cocky bird and started to punch him in the face so no more insulting comments emerged from his beak. Tulio almost spilled his coffee when he saw the display in the monitor. Linda was less than surprised to see such a reaction.

"Well, looks like that bird said something wrong." Linda chuckled lazily, "Told you I knew how this would play out. Except for the over-aggressive beat down Jewel is giving that bird. Didn't expect that. Um, we should probably take them both out now before too much blood gets spilled." Tulio nodded without a single word, his jaw still open from Jewel sudden rage. The scientist put on some gloves for protection and went to retrieve Jewel. Linda chuckled as she observed Blu, who managed to come across another pretty blue-an-yellow macaw, but it was female and she was sleeping.

"Sorry Blu about trying to get you to mate with another bird. Tulio and I both know that birds mate for life and I know for_ a fact_ that you wouldn't sink that low. It's just that stupid Mr. Santos guy being way too concerned about the wellness of your species; so he wanted to try absolutely everything to make more blue macaws. God he is so ignorant." Linda spoke to herself sadly. She knew what they did was wrong, and there was no reason for the birds to not be mad at them, but Tulio, who was just as guilty and upset as Linda, had to attempt this stunt if they wanted to ensure protection of the precious Spix macaws and keep the aviary as well.

Once Tulio let Jewel out of the cage and back into the jungle, he carefully examined the blue-and-yellow macaw's twitching body. "Well I guess it doesn't hurt to do _more_ work on my first day back."

The bruised Acario laughed lightly from his dizziness, "Oh man, I hope my beak is the fine. What a killer left hook." He twitched his fresh black eye as Tulio carried him to the clinic area.

* * *

><p>While Jewel was flying back to the jungle after being stuck in her habitat for about two and a half hours, Blu still wandered his own little 'fake jungle.' However, once he came across the other macaw in his chamber, he couldn't help but stand still and try to pinpoint why he was in a cage with a female bird. He knew the first time this occurred was with Jewel, and obviously that situation was called upon so that Blu could mate with her. 'Is this the same reason?' Blu thought, staring and raising an eyebrow at the sleeping bird, 'She's not even my species, so probably not.'<p>

His next thought come out aloud, "Besides, Linda and Tulio would never put me in that kind of situation now that I have a family." the Spix macaw turned his body away from the sleeping girl while he continued to contemplate, "Hm...I think Jewel was also put in a room with another bird if that's the case here." He muttered with curiously as his hypothesis continued to develop. Blu scratched under his beak, "Even if on the off chance that they really did put in separate habitats to mate again..." The female blue-and-gold macaw now could hear Blu talking, and when she tiredly opened her eyes, she was greeted to see a completely blue figure standing right next to hear. Needless to say, she screamed, which caused Blu to jolt back in fear and turned around.

"W-who are you? Where am I?" The female asked Blu with a demanding voice without taking her eyes off Blu's puzzled face.

"Oh...well you are in one of the Blue Bird Sanctuary's artificial habitats." Blu responded intelligently and with ease. "By the way my nam-" Before he could finish his next sentence, he caught a glimpse of the female's eyes dilating.

"Um...did..we...uh..._do it_ before I fell asleep? I never had anything to drink did I?" She asked awkwardly, now trying to avoid Blu's completely shocked and thrown-off reaction.

"Nononono! I just merely found you here sleeping just now!" Blu retorted nervously, taking a few steps back. The blue-and-yellow macaw then sighed in relief and got to her feet and walked over to Blu. She held out of her claws for a handshake.

"Well in that case, Hi! My name's Katia. Um..sorry for the scare there, didn't mean to blurt that out so obscenely." She apologized as Blu shook her claw firmly.

"Name's Blu. It's nice to meet you with that now with that whole awkward thought behind us." He responded pleasantly, trying to humor off the previous greeting.

"Likewise." Katia said in a peppy tone. At that moment her stomach made an obnoxious growl. "Ha, looks like I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat in here?"

"Yep, I believe Tulio prepped us with an assortment of nuts and fruits. I believe I came across the container near the entrance into the habitat." Blu answered as he immediately walked towards the said location, "Come on Katia, I think I'm getting hungry to." Katia giggled as Blu lead her to the entrance.

* * *

><p>"Hey my little starfruits!" Jewel shouted to her kids as she approached them. The reuniting consisted of Jewel embracing all three chicks in one tight squeeze. Rafael and Eva, both chuckled.<p>

"Mi amigo, you're going to squeeze out all of the juice from your 'starfruits.'" Rafael heartily laughed as he watched Jewel smother her children. Eva smiled at her mate's joke before adding on.

"Jewel you realize that you've only been away for four hours now right?" Eva chuckled as Jewel let go of her children.

"Yeah I know, just motherly instincts I guess." Jewel giggled. She then thought to herself for a moment, "Um, where is Nico and Pedro? I haven't seen them all day."

"Hm...well it is about eight o'clock now, I believe they should be finishing up their performance at The Canopy." Rafael informed politely, "Oh and I assumed your family somehow managed to avoid the two all day, so I invited him here. Speaking of which, where is Blu?" Rafael asked, just now realizing that Jewel came alone.

"I think his still at the aviary still doing the stupid research mumbo-jumbo Tulio gave us, which I'm still mad about." The Spix macaw answered, gritting her beak at the thought of the cocky and perverted bird she had to endure for two hours. Just then, Nico and Pedro flew into sight.

"Oh speak of the devil. Hey what's up amigos!" Rafael shouted as the two small birds landed.

"Yo Ralfy, how's it hanging bird?" Nico hollered back as Pedro turned to see Jewel and her kids. The cardinal stared at them, motionless from the surprise.

"Hey Nico, are those birds who I think they are?" He asked, trying to confirm who he saw. Pedro tapped Nico on his shoulder, which caused the canary to glance over to the blue birds. Nico looked just as shocked as Pedro.

"How's it been you goofs?" Jewel teased, trying to break their statuary shocked expressions. The two birds exchanged glances of sheer joy as they fly towards Jewel and gave her a hug.

"Girl, you had us tripping!" Pedro laughed as he dropped out from the hug, "Your mate told us that you'd be back three days before Carnaval, not five! But god it's so great to see everyone again!" He chuckled as he and Nico gave the three little chicks welcoming hugs as well.

"Looks like the mini-macaws missed us." Nico mentioned to Pedro as the three chicks smothered their uncles.

"Yo where the big Blu?" Pedro asked Jewel, searching around aimlessly for his nerdy friend. Jewel sighed, "I guess I'll explain again."

* * *

><p>Linda couldn't help but bite and pick at her fingernails. It wasn't a bad thing that Blu didn't mimic Jewel's reaction, but the sight the feed from the monitor was giving off, Linda couldn't help but think that Blu was going to do something...<em>stupid<em>. She knew Blu better though, so she retained optimistic.

"Honey quit worrying, there is nothing going on between the two. Blu is simply trying to know Katia a little better. Notice how he didn't make a move upon meeting her, unlike Jewel?" He chuckled, hoping to reassure his wife. Fortunately, it worked, as Linda sighed in defeat after his comment.

"Yeah your right Tulio. I should've known that Blu wouldn't do anything like that. It's just so...nerve-racking that Blu and Katia have stayed nearly two hours longer than Jewel. But I'm sure he's stumbled across the topic of Jewel already. I just need to quit worrying so much." Linda responded as her anxiety slowly rose back to normal. Tulio nodded.

"Yep. They are only friends."

The two humans were spot on with their statements. In fact, while Linda was worried about Blu, the said bird was finishing up his story about first coming to Rio de Janeiro. "So yeah, after Jewel gave the kiss, I guess I found that rhythm in my heart that my buddy Rafael was talking about. Then I flew to find Linda, Tulio, and Fernando so they could fix up my mate's injured wing." Blu reminisced with confidence in his voice. Katia was just staring at Blu in bewilderment.

"Wow, that's amazing Blu. Your mate is so lucky to have you." Katia complimented while giving Blu a warm and acknowledging smile. Blu nodded back, returning the same smile.

"Thanks Katia."

The kind military macaw then sighed deeply before continuing, "You do talk about Jewel quite a bit. I'd love to meet her. I kinda wish I wasn't so unlucky with a mate though. I mean, look at you, happy, raising a family. No one ever wants to go steady with me." She started to trail off, her voice saddening. Blu panicked out of concern and tried to cheer her up immediately.

"Hey don't think like that!" Blu hastily said, "A bird as beautiful as you will find a mate in no time, I can feel it! Those bad dates you talked about earlier are nothing but memories now. Even so, those guys don't see how great of a bird you are Katia." As the compliment flew from Blu's beak, Katia couldn't help but hug Blu. She definitely felt better. "Oh and don't worry, we'll go see my mate and my kids after we get Tulio to let us out."

Katia then wandered her eyes while being deep in thought. "Blu do you think I can babysit your kids?" Blu jolted from surprise.

"Why?"

"Well it seems like you and your mate don't ever get to have time to yourself. I won't mind, I love kids. I'd love to raise my own, but for now, taking care of another birds' kids is fine." Katia explained without being hesitant.

"I'd kinda like that. But it's really Jewel that has to make that decision." Blu informed as he waved to one of the chamber's cameras. Soon afterward, Tulio and Linda walked through a door into the chamber and retrieved the macaws and lead them out into the observation deck before letting them back into the sanctuary's forest.

* * *

><p>"Well I guess we'll have to see our blue brother tomorrow, Pedro and I are kinda tired from our performance tonight. We are going to just take it easy for the rest of the night. See ya Jewel and company!" Nico yawned before flying up to catch up to Pedro, who already said goodbye to everyone and got a head-start home. Rafael and Eva brought all of their kids inside to sleep and Eva was already with them.<p>

* * *

><p>"Yeah see you tomorrow amiga. It's nice to see you again." Rafael yawned goodbye before flying inside his tree hollow. Jewel and her kids waved goodbye to both Nico and Pedro and flew back to their own home.<p>

Meanwhile, Brann somehow flew right into the sanctuary's section of the jungle, still trying to accomplish his objective during the night. He still had an hour to kill before he had to head back to the hotel. Knowing this, the military macaw flew haphazardly fast. While flying around, he accidentally crashed into a familiar Spix macaw and her three kids.

"Oh and so sorry miss." Brann apologized after air recovering from the hit. He was rubbing his head. Brann then caught a glimpse of the bird. 'Whoa she is pretty.' he thought, completely forgetting about the three kids who all stared at him. Brann decided to get straight to the point with Jewel, instead of blushing. He believed that maybe this tactic may actually work.

"Wow you're gorgeous." He blurted out. Jewel looked a little ticked but decided to let it go.

"Thank you, but I have a mate, hence the three chicks." Brann then recoiled, regretting his previous remark. He then forgot about Jewel's looks.

"I didn't know, I'm so sorry...again." Brann said, hanging his head in shame.

"It's okay, you didn't know." Jewel said reassuringly. "My name is Jewel by the way. These are my kids, Diamond, Isaac, and Cobalt, or Colby for short." She added in, motioning to each kid respectively. Brann then realized he had to start flying back to the hotel before he was late for Dylan's curfew.

"Well I gotta go back...um...home. It was nice meeting you guys. Maybe I'll see you again and get to meet your mate." Brann said before flying in the opposite direction. Jewel quickly flew up to him and gave him the directions to her and Blu's tree if he ever wanted to meet up again. She then said goodbye to him as well.

* * *

><p>Blu and Katia arrived back at the Spix macaw's home right after Jewel put Diamond, Isaac, and Cobalt to sleep. Just as Jewel was about to go up and kiss her mate, she took a look at the new female bird and stared at Blu sternly.<p>

"Blu, who is this?"

"Oh this is Katia. Katia, this is Jewel, my mate." Blu answered easily. Katia shook claws with Jewel.

"It's nice to finally meet you. Your mate here loves to talk about you a lot. And he is right, your are beautiful Jewel." Katia greeted while Jewel blushed from her comments. Jewel then lightened her expression to look happy.

"Thank you so much Katia; it's nice to meet you too. By the way, you look very pretty as well." Jewel giggled as she returned the compliments. Now it was Katia's turn to blush. Blu invited Katia outside on a branch to sit down with him and her mate. The group conversed for a few hours, getting to know each other pretty well. Katia even brought up the babysitting proposition.

"Sure. It has been a while since me and Blu have gone out. just fly by whenever you want to watch them or we'll go to your tree and ask you. Which you said was just outside of the sanctuary's boundaries, right?" Jewel asked, agreeing to Katia's generous offer. The blue-and-yellow macaw nodded her head.

"Speaking of home, I've already sucked up enough of your time. I'll drop by tomorrow alright? It was nice meeting you two and getting to see your cute little sleeping kids." Katia chuckled as she flew out of the hollow.

"Bye!" Both blue macaws waved as they watched their new friend leave their home. The two smiled as they went inside to the nest.

"I like her. She's very nice." Jewel admitted before laying her head on Blu's body.

"Yeah, me too." Blu muttered. The two birds, who were still tired from the flight, fell asleep quickly afterward.

* * *

><p>Brann finally had reached his home for the week. Dylan waited at the porch door for his pet bird and opened it for him the moment he saw Brann.<p>

"You're back little dude!" Dylan welcomed warmly as he shut the door. He then pulled out Brann's cage and placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch. "There ya go Brann. You can sleep in the cage when your ready and if you want to, the couch is available. Well, I still got a little jet lag so I'm going to sleep. Night." Dylan noted tiredly as her gave Brann a fist-bump. The duo ended up in their beds and drifted off into unconsciousness.

Little did Brann know that while coming home, a white bird caught a glimpse of him.

* * *

><p><em>Thanks for reading! Please review.<em>

_A.N: So um yeah this is a late update and all, but I was on a vacation so I barely had access to a computer for about a week. Sorry about that._


	7. Room For One More

**A.N: Alright, before we start, you remember how Brann was occasionally referred to as Jax? (If not go read some of the earlier chapters) Well from now on and for the majority of the story, _Brann is going to be referred to as Jax. _There may be times when I use both aliases interchangeably, so this is just a head's up.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

**Room For One More  
><strong>

"Ha ha yeah I knew Blu would've boasted about that moment. Oh and by the way, I'm sorry about the misunderstanding last night Katia." Jewel said sincerely to her new macaw friend. The two, along with Eva, were monitoring the large group of kids playing n front of Rafael's home. After a long -and not to mention painful- greeting, Jewel and Eva showed Katia how their kids generally act while Rafael and Blu went to go get some breakfast for the ladies.

"Oh no worries Jewel. After the situation you were in last night with that creep, I can't blame you for what you thought Blu was doing." Katia replied kindly.

"That does sound really weird though that the doctor and former owner of Blu would do such a thing." Eva butted in with suspicion in her voice.

"I know. I'm still mad at Tulio and Linda for that. Ugh, I know Blu would be upset at me if he heard that." Jewel said irritably. She then took a deep breath to calm herself down. Realizing how awkward the conversation started to get, Katia decided to change the subject.

"You know I really do love these kids. All of them. Even Eva's little ones that attacked me when I arrived. Look at them, they are adorable, I'd love to babysit all of these guys." Katia blurted out cheerfully. Luckily for Katia, both Jewel's kids and Eva's kids enjoyed the blue-and-gold macaw. Even with this little fact, it still worried both Eva and Jewel.

"You mean...like all of them?" Both the toucan and Spix macaw asked in a seriously concerned tone.

"Yeah I don't mind. If they like me, then it shouldn't be a problem for me. I've already talked to Jewel about babysitting, but maybe you'd like to go out with your mate sometimes too Eva. So why not?" Katia retorted intellectually, looking confident in her babysitting skills. The other two females sighed in defeat.

"I guess your right, but you'll have to be a little careful handling all of the younglings at once. Maybe we'll get Nico and Pedro to help you out after they finish their show, so then me and my mango can go out tonight. Possibly with our blue amigos." Eva noted.

"Alright then, I can do it tonight then." Katia laughed victoriously. After about another ten minutes of talking and watching their chicks play, Blu and Rafael came back with a bundle of food wrapped in leaves. Along with them was Nico and Pedro.

"Yo yo yo!" Pedro shouted, making everyone turn around to face him and the other males.

"How's it hanging my everyone?" Nico greeted with a smug smirk on his face, taking notice of Katia while Pedro proceeded to get tackled by the bevy of small birds.

"Man it looks like the whole tiny army misses us! Ugh on the other hand, we finally got to see and catch up with Blu." Pedro chuckled as he laid his eyes on Katia.

"Hey you're a very pretty new face. What's your name hot wing?" Nico asked the blue-and-yellow macaw curiously but smoothly.

"Katia. And I have the pleasure to meet..." The larger bird answered back slyly. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head upwards, signaling that she was mocking Nico for his suaveness.

"Nico." He boasted proudly, trying to return the mocking tone and expression Katia just gave him. Pedro yelled out his name as well from the little 'bird-pile' on him. "By the way, sorry if I sounded like I was trying to hit on you." He finally apologized, letting out a single, faint, and hesitant chuckle. Katia couldn't help but grin widely at both of the birds she just met.

"That's okay Nico, I could tell you were only playing. Besides, I'm a _little_ too tall for you baby boy." Katia giggled loudly at her own joke. Her remark caused an enormous spark of laughter and an embarrassed looking canary in front of her. Nico took off his bottle cap-hat and brushed it against his chest while chuckling nervously at the ground. "Anyways it's nice to meet you both Nico and Pedro. I suppose you are the two that are gonna help me watch all of these kids tonight?" Pedro flew out of the pile to shake wings with Katia while Nico got a little taste of the 'bird-pile' himself. Blu and Rafael chuckled at the sight of Nico getting laid out by a bunch of children.

"Um...I guess so." Pedro answered faintly with a confused look. He obviously didn't know about that deal and he was about to plead to Rafael, but the toucan shot him a glare and gave him a disapproving nod before a single sound came out of the chubby cardinal's mouth. "Alrighty then, I guess me and my homeboy Nico will catch up with you at seven or so. We'll finish early for the sake of the little dudes and so your nice feathers don't turn grey." He mumbled.

"Oh shoot Blu! I forgot to go pick those passion fruits that we spotted near your tree when we first left here!" Rafael finally realized, dropping his leaf bundle and taking off towards the canopies once more. Blu let out a belated sigh and looked around to all of his friends and let out a open-beak smile.

"Ah I guess me and Rafael are gonna leave again after we just came back. Oh well. We'll be back in about fifteen minutes or so." Blu exhaled as he followed Rafael.

"Bye dad!" All of the kids yelled out to their respective fathers as they vanished back into the jungle once more. Off in the distance everyone could hear Blu shout, "These fruits better taste good and make good juice Ralfy!" An long awkward silence ensued.

"Well that was a quick stop..." Nico muttered quietly after recovering from Katia's joke. After breaking the silence, he turned to Pedro for a conversation starter.

"Yep. Only five minutes." Pedro replicated Nico's tone. Jewel, Eva, and Katia shrugged and continued to converse while the kids went back to playing around. Nico and Pedro decided to join the ladies' conversation to help reduce boredom.

* * *

><p>Once Brann woke up and was let out of the hotel, he decided to fly around the slums a little more. From his bird's-eye view, he got to see many people. Whenever he dove down to get a little closer, much to his surprise, he saw nearly every single person in an upbeat, optimistic mood despite being surrounded by a slightly disheartening shanty town.<p>

'Maybe these Brazilian's are happy because it's Carnaval this week?' Brann pondered as he took towards the sky once more. After continuing his morning flight for a little longer, he decided to go back onto the search for his brother. Inspired, he put on a large smile/smirk of confidence and darted towards the jungle. However, before he made out of Rocinha, he crossed paths with a _deteriorating orphanage_. The military macaw curiously descended and took a closer look at the building. The first impression of the orphanage was a little depressing due to its state. Then after peering through the windows, Brann got to witness many sad, bored, and even crying children. They had no toys or a playground near them. He even got a look at an adult woman, presumably the one that runs the place, sitting at a desk sulking near a telephone, as if she was waiting for someone to call. Everyone being sullen depressed the bird and his large smile faded into a sympathetic frown. Sighing heavily, the macaw went back on track to the jungle, but this time at a much slower pace.

Upon reaching the forest, Brann lost his inspiration to find his brother.

"Damn...I'm not in the mood anymore. I guess I'll search this afternoon then..." He mumbled sadly to himself. He then remembered the blue macaw from the previous night. She had given him directions to find their home if he ever wanted to visit.

'I know what I'm going to do.' He chuckled mentally as he slid back on his cheap headphones and flew towards the Spix macaw's residency. It took a little while for Brann to recall the exact landmarks he had to find, but after twenty minutes, he was able to locate Blu and Jewel's home. When he looked inside however, he saw no one. "Well this sucks." He said dryly with a scowl. Almost if on cue, he heard two birds arguing about something.

"Come on Raphael! I told everyone that we'd be back in ten minutes!" One bird shouted. This bird had a nerdy-esque male voice that sounded more American then Brazilian.

"We will! Just hold on." The other bird had traces of age in his voice and Brann could easily tell that this other bird was a male local.

"It's been half an hour already!"

Curious, he took a glimpse from around the tree trunk and saw a completely blue macaw and a toucan carrying bundles with a few passion fruits falling out of them. Brann paid particular attention to the blue bird as a million of thoughts started to flood his brain. The military macaw decided to follow them after he finished thinking. When the macaw and the toucan entered a clearing with a bunch of other birds, Brann stopped and hid behind a bush. After the two said their hellos and put down the food bundles, they were ambushed by a bunch of toucans. However, Brann spotted three blue chicks. He then peeked out of the bush and quickly spotted the same female bird from last night, Jewel. More thoughts entered Brann's brain as he nonchalantly entered the clearing with the other birds. 'This is going to give me a migraine eventually.' He thought, flustered with his sudden habit of over-analyzing. It didn't take too long for everyone else to notice him.

* * *

><p>"ATTACK!" One of the baby toucans shouted before his father stopped him.<p>

"No don't order an attack Carlos. He might be a friendly ally." Raphael whispered so that the military macaw in front of them cold not hear him. The little toucan pouted in response. Everyone just stared at the new bird and it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Uh...oi lá" He muttered awkwardly, only trying to break the silence. Not even Jewel recognized him; the only avian that did was Isaac.

"Hey your that one macaw that we met last night!" The intelligent little macaw shouted. All of a sudden, Jewel and the rest of her kids realized that Isaac was right. Then Nico and Pedro both realized they had seen this same bird before.

"Dude that's the one bird from the cage!" Pedro exclaimed without thought.

"Whoa more nostalgic feelings." Nico muttered, exchanging looks with Blu, who obviously felt nostalgia from Pedro's comment as well. "But he is right We've met you before."

"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry for not recognizing you!" Jewel apologized quickly, obviously embarrassed by her mistake. Her wide eyes then went back to normal as she thought to herself for a bit. "You know, I never caught your name from the quick conversation we had last night."

"Wait...You never told us your name either!" Nico and Pedro said in unison. The 'name' comments made the military macaw go into thought.

"You do have a name right?" Pedro asked. This only made the new bird stare at him with a peeved face.

"Yes I do. And it's _Jax_ by the way, sorry about the improper introductions earlier. Had too much on my mind at the moment...er...moments." He finally answered, now knowing that he can speak in English to these birds. Katia, Rafael, and Eva approached Jax and shook his wing and gave a quick introduction. However, upon seeing Katia, he couldn't help but stare at her. Jax's brain flooded once more with memories and thoughts. Just like with Jewel the previous night, he thought being suave with clever pick-up lines would be better than his previous antics.

"Well how are you doing Katia? Você sabe, _Este lugar é muito __lindo_." Jax said in a sly tone, meeting his dark brown eyes with Katia's green eyes. He was hoping that his Portuguese was up to speed and that it charmed the blue-and-yellow macaw. "Did you notice it's kind of hot here?" He added on suggestively.

"Uh...I'm doing good. It's...um...nice to meet you Jax." Katia mumbled slowly, ignoring his last two comments and giving him a strange look before slowly walking away towards the rest of the birds, who were busy talking amongst themselves.

"It's nice to meet you too..." Jax muttered, realizing his mistake. He then proceeded to cuss under his breath while Blu approached him.

"Hi there. It's always nice to meet new people. My name's Blu, nice to meet you." Blu said gleefully while extending a claw for a 'handshake.'

"Blu?" Jax was confused at what he just heard.

"Yep. Like the cheese. Or like my feathers. Or the color of the sky. Or like the synonym for sad." Blu rambled, listing a few more things that are blue. Something about Blu made Jax tick.

"Alright I get it! Your name's Blu sheesh." Jax exclaimed in annoyance. Blu now looked angrily at him for his remark.

"I'm sorry Jax that you woke up on the wrong side of the hollow this morning." Blu retorted, upset at the new bird's attitude. Jax rolled his eyes and decided to apologize.

"Look, I'm sorry for that last remark, I was just thrown off by the blatantly obvious name but you didn't have to spend an hour explaining that to me." His tone never lost its trace of annoyance at all.

"Alright, it's fine. I've gotten that before. Hm I guess I was pestering you with tedious stuff. Sorry about that." Blu admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. Jax rolled his eyes and walked over to the other birds so he get to know them better. Blu followed him, but not a single word came out of his beak.

'What an odd mate Jewel.' Jax thought as he waddled over the the group.

* * *

><p>Dylan pulled his rented car up into the driveway of a moderately large home (two stories and a basement). It was now about lunch time, and Dylan felt extremely hungry. He shut the car door and spotted a man in a suit at the front door.<p>

"Hello there you must be Dylan Jackson." The man said, trying not to stare at Dylan's tattooed arm.

"Yes. Are you the man that is going to clear out the house and put it back on the market?" Dylan immediately asked.

"You are correct, we are going to clear it out later on tonight." The man answered.

"Don't do it yet. I want you to start after my brother's funeral, which is in about a day or two." Dylan informed. The man nodded. "Well speaking of my bro Nick, maybe I can go see if there is anything I want to keep. And also, I'd like to go inside and grab something to eat, I'm sure Nick has some food in his fridge still." He joked, trying to lighten the mood, especially for himself. The man nodded in agreement and let Dylan inside his brother's home. Dylan tried his best not to stare in awe at some of the paintings in the living room which his own brother drew. He knew that his brother Nick was an incredibly talented artist and he worked as a lead designer and animator at a Brazilian computer animation company. Nick even worked in major American animations studios for some time before coming to Rio de Janeiro. Dylan then quit gawking at the photos and located the kitchen and got out something to eat.

"Wow, the only other time I've been in here is when I helped my brother first move here. It's amazing what it looks like now." Dylan muttered to the suited man, who grabbed a soda out of the refrigerator.

"Indeed. So, would you like some time alone then to reminisce and maybe decided what you want to keep and sell?" The man asked while slowly making his way to the front door.

"That would be nice thank you. I'll call you in a few days then when I'm ready." Dylan answered politely, walking over to the living room while the suited man got into a labeled truck and drove off. He immediately saw a picture frame with him and his brother as children. When Dylan got a closer look he saw him and his brother wearing soccer jerseys because they used to love to play soccer together when they were young. However, in the background, he saw a picture of both their parents and it overwhelmed Dylan.

When the two kids were growing up, they looked up to their parents so much. They did so much to support and make sure both Dylan and Nick were happy. In both of their minds, they have the ideal parents, they couldn't ask for any better. However, three years before Nick graduated, their mom died from a heart attack. Then a year after Nick graduated, their dad died in a car accident. Both Brann and Wyatt were there to see their owners' grief. The loss of their parents took both Dylan and Nick months to overcome. It still was horrifying for both of them and Nick eventually had to take on the responsibility of caring for Dylan until he was able to live on his own. From that point on, Nick became very protective of Dylan and always made sure he was fine, although Dylan told him to not ever help him financially unless the situation became critical. The same went for Dylan, except he didn't have to offer his brother financial help. Now his brother was gone too.

Dylan let out a heavy sigh and wept a little softly. After putting the picture frame down and regaining his composure, Dylan laid down on Nick's living room couch and thought deeply. Trying to ease his mind, Dylan closed his eyes but ended up falling asleep.

* * *

><p>After a long day of getting to know everyone, Jax was flying around the jungle with Pedro, Nico, and Rafael.<p>

"So you can speak Portuguese huh?" Pedro asked Jax as they flew around the jungle. The sun had started to set when they left. The three agreed to go take Jax to The Canopy. Since Nico and Pedro knew that Jax was a pet, they figured a little partying in Rio wouldn't be too bad for a change of pace for their new friend.

"Eu ouvi você usá-lo para flertar com Katia." Rafael teased as they entered the city. Jax understood what Rafael said and blushed in embarrassment.

"Ha ha I know Portuguese. I was born here after all. But um...I never really spoke it to anyone back in America so I'm pretty rusty on it. I understand the perfectly though." Jax answered, shooting a look at Rafael after he finished. The toucan couldn't help but laugh.

"Well that's cool. So it won't be to hard for you to speak with locals then." Nico added on as the fly down to a fruit market. The four birds waddled into an alley to see a large, blanketed area and faint noise came from inside it.

"Well guys, I'm gonna go and catch up on my little double date with mi amor and Blu and Jewel." Rafael said goodbye, waving to the three birds as he took off into the air. The three waved back and walked into the samba club.

"Welcome to the Canopy Jax!" Nico yelled as he flew up in the air. Pedro followed. Jax was in awe from all of the birds in the club. There was a lot of dancing, music, and to Jax's surprise, it was fairly large in size.

"Dude this is crazy!" Jax exclaimed, flying to get a better look of all the movement in the club.

"Wait 'till you see us!" Pedro boasted as he and Nico exchange a nod and flew up to the front of the club, which had a stage made of numerous crates, bottles, and cans.

'No way, are they performers?' Jax thought eagerly to himself as he flew towards a row of crates that made up a bar.

"Hey Hey! Como está todo mundo!" Nico shouted to the crowd. Everyone started cheering. Jax looked impressed by the response. "Man you guys are lively tonight. How about a song or two?"

'Yep they are performers.' Jax laughed mentally, answering his previous thought.

"Yo, we're gonna play a new song for you guys, is that cool?" Pedro asked the blatantly obvious question. The response he received: a massive amount of cheers. "Alright let's set the mood."

_"Ah que linda_  
><em>bossa nova, samba<em>  
><em>coração de Brazil, and now it's the new style.<em>

_Get it get it get it get it get it get it get it girl  
>get get get get get get get it girl<br>take her take her to the floor  
>show her show her how you roll<br>drop it drop it drop it low, drop it..."_

Everyone in the club started to bob their heads around and some even started to dance already. Pedro and Nico stopped and stared at the crowd to increase the tension. Once exchanging nods, Nico went behind some cans that acted like drums and Pedro contiued.

_"Make make make it funky in Brazil  
>do that samba, don't stay still<br>come on up, we keep you dancin'  
>super doupers how you feel<em>..."

Jax couldn't help but move his head to the rap, even though it wasn't the type of music he was into. He turned to see a parakeet as the bartender and he asked for a Black Velvet. She nodded and about a minute later, see handed him the mixed drink in a Dixie cup.

_"...we gonna rock it in the street, till we see the morning sun_,  
><em>we aint stoppin' in the Carnaval, we party on and on<em>.  
><em>Rock it on and on, on and on <em>  
><em>that's just how we do<em>,  
><em>and my beats be pumpin' loud like samba schools to make you move<em>.  
><em>This party will never end, no baby it's never over<em>,  
><em>all the millions of Brazilian women make me say gostosa."<em>

Pedro went back to the chorus, but this time Nico joined in with the singing After jumping over the , on the meantime, downed his black velvet and got another one. His head quit moving to the music and instead, the military macaw listened to his friends' song intently and with focus.

_"Que linda que linda.  
>I love Ipanema.<br>It's the place to fall in love,  
>and Copacabana.<br>Rio oh rio-o-a-o.  
>Samba le samba-a-a-a.<br>It's the place to fall in love  
>in Rio...hey!"<em>

Nico took over for the next verse, and at the end of the verse, most of the birds in the club pumped their feathers and shouted 'hey' with Nico and Pedro. Pedro finished the finally chorus and everyone cheered at the top of their lungs.

"Wow you guys are on fire tonight!" Nico complimented to the crowd. They responded with another massive roar of cheers. Nico and Pedro laughed and decided to go play one last song before they left to help Katia babysit. They sang their signature song Hot Wings. Afterwards, Nico and Pedro shouted goodnight to the crowd and tried to locate Jax immediately afterwards. They found him at the entrance of The Canopy, looking a little lost.

"Hey what's up man. What did ya think?" Pedro asked with a wide open smile. He longed for a positive response from his new pal.

"Oh it was pretty good guys. I had no idea you two performed. I mean, I'm not a big fan of samba-y music, but yeah, you two kicked ass out there. The crowd frikin' loved you." Jax complimented with an occasional slur in his sentence.

"Thanks bro."

"Yeah, it's always nice to receive compliments like that." Nico added happily.

"No problem guys. Well it was awesome hanging out with ya, but I gotta head back up to my hotel, I'm kinda buzzed right now and I don't want to accidentally get more drunk here. Besides, I'm kinda tired, even if it's seven thirty." Jax admitted. It was all true, he felt sleepy all of a sudden. He didn't have to energy to go search for his brother for another few hours. Plus, he'd rather not do that when inebriated.

"Alright then, be safe Jax." Pedro responded as Jax slipped on his headphones and walked out of the club.

"Well let's go do some babysittin'" Nico chimed a minute later before leaving the samba club too.

* * *

><p>Jax flew down to the back porch door of their hotel room to only find out that Dylan was not there. He sighed heavily and plopped down in the corner of the deck. While he waited for his owner to come back, Jax fell asleep where he sat. Unbeknownst to him, Dylan went out to eat on the other side of Rio in hopes that it would ease his mind more.<p>

"I'll take the Moqueca Baiana." Dylan told the waitress with a grin.

"Okay, and what would you like to drink?"

"Você tem cerveja Carona?" He asked slowly, trying to remember how to piece together the Portuguese sentence and accents. Unlike his avian friend Jax, Dylan was not that good at Portuguese. He even had a hard time understanding it. The only things he learned were some essential tourist words from his brother.

"Sim." The waitress replied, "Your dish will be out in about forty minutes, and I'll bring you the beer."

About forty-five minutes passed before Dylan received his food. He already had drank one third of his Carona waiting for his dinner, but when he finally got it, it looked so delicious he forget about the long wait. Once he was about to bring his first spoonful of the seafood stew, he caught a glimpse of three strikingly similar figures. They were Linda, Tulio, and Fernando, but Dylan obviously did not know that. At the other table, Linda was complaining about the 'tests' they had to perform on Blu and Jewel the previous night.

"I feel so horrible about that still. I may never get over that. Why did we have to do something so cynical as attempting them to mate with other, similar bird when you already know birds mate for life?" Linda blabbered on. Tulio nodded his head.

"I know that birds mate for life, I'm an ornithologist Linda. But forming the Blu Bird Sanctuary and sending all of your stuff here destroyed my bank account, I couldn't risk losing the funding we receive for the sanctuary. If I did, then we'd be putting Blu and Jewel and their kids back in danger because I wouldn't be able to afford the costs to run the sanctuary. Really the only good point Mr. Santos made was that there was a chance of incest if we left it be, but for some reason, I doubted that." Tulio explained in a deep voice, looking slightly guilty.

"I guess you're right on that one honey."

"Just look at it this way: in the bigger scope of things we are technically helping..." Tulio trailed off, catching a glimpse of Dylan and shared the exact same reaction as the tattooed young man. "Hey isn't that the one guy from the plane yesterday?" This remark made Fernando and Linda turn around.

"Yeah that looks like the guy that accidentally sat down in our row." Fernando chuckled. Linda, being as generous as she is wandered over to Dylan, who now continued to eat his food.

"Hey, I couldn't help but feel like I've seen you before. Um were you on the flight from Wyoming to here?" She asked him, giving a slight grin to avoid the abrupt awkwardness that she may have spawned.

"Yeah I was. I think I recall you too. I believe I sat in your family's row ha ha." Dylan laughed, he then stood up to shake hands with Linda. "Hi, my name's Dylan Jackson, it's nice to meet you." He introduced with a firm handshake from his tattooed arm.

"Likewise. My name is Linda, that's my husband Tulio, and that's my son Fernando." Linda introduced for everyone. She took notice of some of the more vulgar tattoos on Dylan's arm, but shrugged it off. "How about you come and eat with us?"

"I'd love to." Dylan answered gleefully while picking up his food and alcoholic beverage.

* * *

><p>"So are you here for Carnaval? It's in about four days." Tulio asked curiously. Dylan shook his head.<p>

"Ha ha Tulio, it's a pretty big coincidence that it was around the time I came over here. I might go if I have time, but that is not why I'm here. By the way, Carnaval is early this year." Dylan answered, taking a small sip of his beer.

"It is pretty early, I mean it's only February, last year it was in March. Anyways...why exactly are you here then Dylan?" Tulio asked again, still very curious. Dylan inhaled and exhaled deeply before answered.

"Well the real reason why I'm here is for my brother's funeral..." Dylan said softly, trying to hide his sadness. Linda covered her mouth in shock.

"Oh I'm so sorry to hear that!" She said sympathetically, giving a short hug to Dylan.

"Thanks. I'm holding a viewing for him tomorrow. Then the day afterwards is his funeral." Dylan explained. He then looked at each other table member seriously then opened his mouth once more. "You know, I've sat with you guys for about an hour and I can tell that we could be pretty good friends. So if you'd like, you can come to the viewing and the funeral."

"We'd be honored to sir." Fernando address for everyone else. He tried to sound formal with his response.

"I already have your numbers and your address, so maybe I'll drop by for a visit after the funeral or something. But right now my old friends are dropping by, so I have to go." Dylan informed before going back to his table and putting money on the bill for his meal. He waved goodbye to Fernando, Linda and Tulio before leaving the restaurant.

It took Dylan thirty minutes to locate the airport which his friends were supposed to arrive at. When he arrived, he saw Grant and Corbyn waiting for him in the parking lot. Dylan jumped out of the car and gave both of them bro-hugs.

"I'm so sorry about your loss bro." Corbyn said sadly. Grant nodded in agreement. The two were both good friends with Nick, and it was just as hard for them to hear the tragedy.

"Are you doing alright man?" Grant asked concernedly.

"Yes I'm fine. Where is Veronica and the pets?"

"Back in Cali. Veronica is going to watch them. We can only be here for two days. I still have to get back to med-school this week." Grant noted.

"Oh." Dylan mumbled. After catching up for ten minutes in the parking lot, Dylan invited his old buddies into the Chrysler and drove them to their hotel. It was definitely more appealing than Dylan's.

"Well we'll see ya tomorrow at the viewing." Grant mumbled before giving Dylan a fist bump. His brother did the same and the two proceeded to check into their room. Dylan yawned as he walked back to the rent-a-car. At the moment, all Dylan wanted to do was go back to his own hotel and sleep. Which is what he did once he got there.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Hello readers! Sorry for the late update again, but like my profile now says, I'm back in school, so now my writing schedule is a little more restricted than before. Expect new chapter every one or two weeks now. Anyways thanks for reading. As usual review and if you spot any grammatical errors, point them out so I can fix them!<strong>

**P.S. Oh yeah sorry if I did put up the lyrics for hot wings. I feel like that has been done many times before, so I avoided that. Then again my choice of song for the club scene wasn't anymore original. Anyways, the name of the song used in this chapter is called Drop it Low by Will. i. Am. Which I do NOT own (Just for disclaimer purposes).  
><strong>


	8. Dead Memories

**Chapter 8**

**Dead Memories**

Brann slowly opened his eyes and realized that he now was in the hotel room on the couch. Dylan saw that his parrot woke up, so he casually walked over to him and knelt to meet his eyes.

"Good morning Brann, ya sleepy-head." Dylan chuckled quietly, giving him a little pet on the head. The bird eased his way into a sitting position and looked around the room as if he had never seen it before. "Relax, when I came home last night, I saw that you were out on the deck, sleeping in the corner. So I brought you in and placed you on the couch. I bet it was more comfy then the jagged stone deck you laid down on." Brann just squawked out a thank you to his owner. Dylan dismissed the thank you by raising his hand. He then proceeded to give the macaw a buttered piece of toast. While Brann ate his relatively small breakfast, Dylan's expression changed to show seriousness.

"Brann." He started. The bird let out a squawk and paused from eating his toast for a moment. "Nick's viewing is today. I can't remember the name of the church off the top of my head, but I have it written down. Anyways, I want you to come see my brother with me." He said blankly. Brann nodded slowly and chirped:

"Of course."

Dylan smiled slightly at the response. "Hey, Corbyn and Grant are going to be there. Lily, Milo, and Trey aren't with them, but they're gonna be leaving the morning after the funeral so that answers that. Well, we better get ready, if I can't remember the name of the church, I'm sure as hell not going to remember the address to it." His pet bird couldn't help but make a snicker at him. The macaw finished his toast and flew to the bathroom with his owner to get all spiffed up for a good presentation. Both of them washed their faces and Brann even tried to shine his beak a little. While Dylan gelled and combed his messy hair down to make it flat, Brann scoured the suitcase right inside the bedroom for some sort of formal wear. When he was done, Dylan went to the bedroom as well and put on a casual, but appropriate, button-up shirt and dress pants. Brann found a clip-on bow tie and clipped it to a few of his chest feathers immediately below his neck. The bow tie was meant for a human, so it looked disproportionally large on Brann. Dylan chuckled and gave the military macaw a thumbs up. After some finishing touches, the two found separate ways to the rental car. Brann had to manage gliding downwards with the bow tie interfering with his wing motions. He nearly collided with the hood of someone's car before finally sliding over to the passenger side of the car he was supposed to be in.

* * *

><p>About an hour later, Dylan was able to locate the church. Brann had a tired and annoyed look plastered on to his face as the two parked their vehicle.<p>

"Yeah, looks like the man of honor has finally arrived!" Corbyn yelled out mockingly as he and his brother approached him. Brann perched himself on Dylan's shoulder as the two exited the vehicle and greeted their friends.

"Sorry about that guys, I kinda got lost." Dylan mummered, rubbing the back of his neck. Grant snorted out loud at his comment.

"Dylan, this is our first time in Rio, and we were able to find the church quicker than you. In fact, we even meet some of your new acquaintances that you met just last night." Grant snickered while Dylan gave him an offended, yet puzzled look.

"Wait, you met Linda, Tulio, and Fernando?" He asked blatantly.

"Of course. We had enough time to met everyone in the parking lot and we met that Monteiro family. They're very sincere and polite people." Grant answered nonchalantly. Dylan was still amazed that a family he met literally eight hours ago actually came to the viewing he invited them to. He shook off the thought literally, shaking his head so forcefully that Brann almost fell off of Dylan's shoulders.

"So where is my new friends then?"

"Over by the door." Corbyn pointed out to the front of the church where Linda was waving her arm profusely. Dylan chuckled as he and his friends walked over to the building.

About ten minutes had passed, and many of Nick's friends in Brazil came to see his body, which was gentility laid down in a mahogany casket, smiling back at anyone who glanced at him. Dylan and his friends stood over the body and just stared at Dylan's brother in a unified and sad silence. Brann stared at Nick and gulped slowly.

"He looks so happy, as if he was having an amazing dream right now." The macaw said quietly and he exhaled from the sad aura he felt. The three friends went and sat down by Linda and Tulio. Fernando decided to take a look at Nick's body and ponder what kind of person he was. There was another dull moment between them as a minute of silence ensued. Then Linda stared at Dylan's military macaw once more and decided to break the silence.

"You know Dylan, that is one handsome military macaw you have." Linda complimented, smiling sweetly at the parrot, who ended up shrugging smugly at the nice comment. "That bow tie that he has makes him absolutely adorable! I don't know why, maybe because it's bigger than him. Oh by the way, what's name Dylan?" She asked curiously.

"Brann. Brann Jackson." Dylan answered politely, "He also has a brother named Wyatt Kieth Jackson, but his brother goes by Wyatt. The two are just as close as me and my bro." He sighed heavily. Tulio then decided to ask him something too.

"I'm sorry if this is the wrong time, but what was your brother like by the way?" The ornithologist asked softly. Dylan stared at the ground for a minute before turning to face Tulio and Linda.

"No it's not the wrong time. Um...well I can say that Nick was an incredibly responsible man and was although sometimes he was kinda soft, he was always nice and courteous of others. He was very good friends with Grant and Corbyn too. Out of all my friends, he thought they had the most positive influence on me." Dylan started.

"Ha ha that's right. We were awesome in his book." Corbyn interrupted, causing Dylan to shoot him an annoyed look.

"Anyways...after my mom died, Nick tried his best to help out dad with taking care of the house, which included payments. He was an artist, so he constantly painted and drew pictures and posters, then he would hold an auction in the park to gain money. How he managed that during his years of high school, I'll never know." Dylan chuckled unenthusiastically. Everyone let out a belated smile. "When dad died in a car accident after Nick's graduation, he made the most unselfish descion in his whole life. Something that I couldn't thank him enough for: He waited out college just so he could make sure I avoid being taken from him by social services."

* * *

><p><strong>Flashback: 11 years ago<strong>

Nick sat on his father's old recliner, staring down silently at a folded piece of paper in one hand which showed his acceptance to the California Institute of the Arts. In the other hand, Nick held a frame that had an old family photo of when Dylan first adopted Brann and Wyatt. A younger Dylan, about fifteen years of age, walked up behind his sullen brother with his two macaws flying seconds behind. Brann perched himself up on the top of the recliner while Wyatt stopped on the armrest of the chair. They both peeked at what Nick was doing.

"What's up bro?" Dylan asked as if nothing was wrong. His older brother sighed and closed his eyes before getting out of the chair and placing both items on a table in front of their T.V.

"Not much Dylan. Just looking at mail and the rent for our apartment." Nick lied with a shaky voice. Dylan was not fooled.

"I know that you already paid the rent for the apartment last week. You were looking at the college letter again, weren't you?" Dylan retorted, sounding peeved. Nick let out a grin while nodding his head in defeat. Then there was an awkward silence between the two brothers. Both Brann and Wyatt peered at the letter before looking at each other with the same confused look. "Look, why don't you go to that California art school? I mean isn't it supposed to be one of the best art schools in America, and they just accepted you, why don't you just call them or something and say that you're able to go."

Nick exhaled deeply and turned to face Dylan. He face had serious written all over it. Nick was generally playful with Dylan and the birds, but after their mom and dad's death, he became more stern, which made his personality seem like a stone.

"I know that this is a good opportunity for me, I've always wanted to go to an amazing art school such as the one on that piece of paper." Nick explained sternly, pointing lazily at the letter the college sent, "But it's not all about what I want bro."

"So your going to throw that possible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity out the window!" Dylan shouted defensively, obviously trying to persuade his brother into going. Nick nodded his head.

"Yes. You know that I want to go, but after dad passing away after that car accident, I have no where else to go. Yes they gave me a scholarships and offered ridiculous amounts of money and aids so I'm not in so much debt right away, and that amazing and all, but I had to sell our old house, move us to Evansville, buy us an apartment just so we could survive."

"So?" Dylan didn't sound too convinced.

"Look, I know I'm rambling, but it's been hard for me ever since mom died. I nearly fell apart after dad passed too. _I'm sure as hell not going to lose you too_." Nick finished, lowering his voice. Dylan let his eyes wander around in shock before meeting his eyes back with his brother's.

"Well you know that you could always keep in touch with me if I had to live in a foster home." Dylan muttered.

"I don't want you to live in a foster home. Sure you're probably right, but you wouldn't be a Jackson anymore. I know it sounds cheesy but I don't want you to be taken away from me by the social services, not after we lost everything. Plus, you'd have to give up Brann and Wyatt, and I know you don't want that. Really, in the scope of things, I'd be missing you grow up, and I'm not letting that happen. If I have to give up my dream, then so be it. I'll postpone my art career until you are old enough to take care of yourself. Trust me, it'll be fine if I don't go. I'll call the dean of admissions tonight and explain to her what went down. Who knows, maybe I'll still be able to go in a few years." Nick finished, ruffling his brother's hair with his hand. Brann and Wyatt could only stare at Nick in amazement.

"Wow." Brann blurted out, flabbergasted from what he had just heard.

"I know, that was one of the most unselfish things I've ever heard." Wyatt responded, also in shock. After Dylan was able to register Nick's reasoning, he couldn't help but run up to him and hug him tightly.

"Nick, bro...you are truly selfless and caring. I love you man." Dylan nearly squealed. Nick returned the hug and chuckled.

"Heh I know. I love you too little man." Nick responded while parting from their brotherly hug.

* * *

><p>"Wow that is so thoughtful!" Linda exclaimed. She was actually surprised by the pure generosity Nick had. Tulio nodded his head and yet again gave his condolences again to Dylan, this time including the loss of both parents.<p>

"So how did he pass?" Fernando asked, as he walked back from the coffin. This question made Brann sulk on Dylan's shoulders. The tattooed young man turned over and looked and the child and tried to smile, but it was apparent that the smile was fake.

"Well about five years ago, My brother found out he had cancer. Lung cancer to be more specific. It was a miracle that he survived five years with it. But in the end, that's what he eventually succumbed to." Dylan exhaled slowly, his tone was monotonous yet saddened.

* * *

><p><strong>Flashback: 5 years ago<strong>

"Sup Nick!" Brann cooed to his other human companion as he entered Dylan's home. Nick pet the happy macaw and wandered around the home to locate his brother. In the midst of that task, Wyatt flew up and perched himself on Nick's shoulders with a note in his claws and prompted the human to take the. Nick took the note from him and scanned over what it had said.

"For me? Aw you shouldn't have." Nick laughed playfully. The note read: "How was work?" in moderately neat cursive.

"It was pretty good Wyatt. By the way, your handwriting is getting better." Nick acknowledged giving the military macaw a fist-bump. While Wyatt flew off his shoulder to go catch up with his brother who was outside with Jay and Luther, Nick managed to locate Dylan, who was cooking in the kitchen.

"What'cha making Bobby Flay?" Nick joked as his brother turned away from the pan filled with sauteed onions he was cooking.

"Oh hey Nick. I'm making some beef braised in soy sauce. Should be done in about five minutes." Dylan replied, turning back to the stove and pouring the onions into a sauce that was helping flavor the beef. Nick smiled as he leaned on the wall.

"You're growing up pretty fast brother. nineteen years old and you already live on your own. How's the house been?"

"Nick, I know your visiting from college and all, but do you really have to ask me every day on your visit how living in this house has been?" Dylan said sarcastically, not breaking the concentration he had on the food.

"Yes." Nick giggled.

"Well as I've said before, life is pretty good. This house is surprisingly roomy for just me and the birds. Thanks for helping me find this place, even if I'm renting it." Dylan responded, this time in a much more sincere voice.

"Ha your welcome...again. Um...when your done, I need to talk to you." The older brother requested sternly. Nick looked uneasy as he left the kitchen to go watch television in the living room.

About seven minutes passed, Dylan left the kitchen to meet up with his older brother. In his hands he had two plates filled with the braised beef and he handed one to Nick before sitting down.

"So what did you wanna talk about?" Dylan asked as he took the first bite of his meal. The question elicited a deep breath from Nick. Coincidentally, Brann and Wyatt flew through an open window and landed silently in the kitchen and were able to overhear the conversation.

"Um...you see...I went to the doctor's today because I was feeling horrible and had that nasty cough, remember?" Nick clarified, making sure his brother was on the same page.

"Yeah that's right."

"Well, they examined me...and...I...uh...I..." Nick trailed off, his voice fading into silence as he tried to think of a good way to state his next words. Tears also started to well up in his eyes.

"And what?" Dylan spewed, getting annoyed from Nick's rambling.

"I...have...lung cancer..." He finished, wincing to stop himself from sobbing. Dylan's jaw dropped the instance he heard those last two words. Brann and Wyatt, who overheard, stared at each other in shock. They flew over immediately to catch the sight of Dylan and Nick clenching each other tightly and crying. "I don't know how long I'll live Dylan. They told me I have at most two years." He mumbled through sniffs and sobs.

"DON'T TALK LIKE THAT!" Dylan shouted. His eyes were glassy and red from his tears. "Please...you gotta pull through..."

* * *

><p>"Wow...that's so sad...I'm...I'm so sorry for your loss." Linda said compassionately. After his lamentation, Dylan and everyone else fell silent to honor the passing of Nicholas. Brann couldn't take the sad emotion surge that shot through him so he bolted out the front door of the church, leaving everyone inside to stare at the door inquisitively.<p>

"Um...well that was odd..." Tulio obviously stated. Dylan got up and fixed his collared shirt.

"Great, I guess I should consult him. You guys just chat amongst yourselves. I'll be back." Dylan informed in an asinine tone. As soon as he stepped out the large maple double doors, he spotted Brann sitting on the steps, his head hanging low. "Hey you alright?" He asked out of concern. The macaw just shook his head without even looking at his owner. "I know you're upset. Believe me, this is hell for me right now." Dylan said with sympathy, "I still can't register the fact that I lost my only brother and I know that you loved him just like your own brother as well." Dylan didn't realize that he made a slip-up in his word choice and noticed that Brann gradually got more depressed. "Um maybe I shouldn't have brought it up." He laughed hesitantly while rubbing his chin, "but you know, the viewing is almost over, if you want, you can go explore more of Rio" At the sound of this, the macaw finally gave his human companion a sincere smile before getting himself up and flying back towards the rainforest. As he flew away, Dylan couldn't help but rub his temples from some form of guilt that had just flowed into his consciousness. He shook it off and went back inside the church.

* * *

><p>The military macaw flew into the jungle, now determined to find his brother Wyatt. For nearly two and a half hours he shouted his brothers name throughout the jungle. The shouts were so constant it seemed as if there was an never ending echo that kept arising from the canopies. He even bothered countless Brazilian birds, describing in deep detail what his older brother looked like and if they have seen him whatsoever. Just like the previous two days, the now desperate macaw kept receiving endless steams of nos and shaken heads. Nico and Pedro, who were flying through the trees to meet up with their friends, overheard some of the shouts.<p>

"Yo Nico, you hear that?" Pedro stopped, taking a quick glance behind his right wing. Nico looked at his chubby pal inquisitively.

"Faintly. It's probably someone calling their brother to go get some grub or something." The canary assumed while adjusting his bottle-cap hat. Pedro nodded in agreement but still had a puzzled plastered on his face.

"It kinda sounds like Jax though, doesn't it?"

"Coincidence most likely." Pedro couldn't really argue with that answer, so he shrugged and ended up leading Nico towards Blu and Jewel's tree. Meanwhile, Jax felt completely exhausted, depressed, and deflated. He decided to go see the group of birds he met last night. The macaw fixed his bow tie and flew towards Rafael's home. After a long greet, Nico, Pedro, and the blue macaw family all headed down to Rafael's tree once more. Fortunately, there was no ambush this time from the toucan children, much to Blu and Jewel's relief. They were greeted by Katia, who was already there because she was trying to know the 'toucan army' better.

"You really wanna babysit don't you?" Blu joked as he watched his own kids scurry off with Rafael's kids.

"Definitely. I already told you guys, I love kids." Katia responded with the same expression.

"She loves em' so much she comes to work early." Rafael teased, nudging her a little. The joke gained a positive response from everyone, and while everyone was laughing, Jax flew on by and landing right beside the chuckling group. Despite being in a generally positive aura, Jax's mind was so cluttered with sad thoughts that he couldn't even bear to say hi to anyone and he just plopped down on a tree trunk adjacent from Rafael and Eva's tree.

"Hey hey, what's up Jax!" Nico shouted before realizing his depressed state. He motioned to Pedro to go with him and check up on their new pal. Jewel and Katia went up with them.

"Nice tie Jax. It fits you very well." Jewel said sarcastically as she approached him. The girls then noticed he didn't make any remark whatsoever.

"Is something wrong?" Katia asked concernedly, tilting her head in sympathy at the poor macaw. Jax sighed heavily as he stood up and walked over to Rafael. He responded to Katia's question as they followed him.

"Actually yes there is something wrong. It's something kinda personal..." He spoke slowly and quietly until his voice was a near-whisper.

"Amigo, you can tell us what's on your mind." Rafael said in a wisely tone. Pedro flew up from behind the large-beaked bird and added on to his comment.

"Yeah! We're all friends here bro." The sound of the word bro echoed and clung onto Jax's brain like a tumor. The green parrot tried his best not to well up with tears.

"Looks like your about to cry. I thought yesterday you said you were a manly bird and never cried...or feel pain because you work out with your human. I thought that meant you were like a stone." Blu said softly but in a joking tone, in hopes that his little reference lifted up his spirits. Although it was timed incorrectly and sounded a tiny bit crude and condescending, Jax couldn't help but chuckle. Sure he was a little annoyed with Blu's formation of the joke, but in retrospect, he did say those exact things the previous night when he met them so it was technically his fault.

Right before leaving to go to the samba club last night, the group wanted to know what Jax was like so he boasted about how strong willed and physically strong he was. Sure the physicality portion wasn't a lie, Jax did indeed have slightly more muscle mass within his wings and his body than an average bird (which only aroused more questions to how he did so) but he mentioned his emotions as if they didn't exist and Blu told him at that moment that he was a stone with feathers.

"Well I guess I'm not entirely a stone. I _do_ have feelings." He chuckled again, this time his voice slowly increasing in volume. "I guess you guys wanna know what's up with the tie and why I'm so down." The blatantly obvious remark was responded to with synchronized nods. "Alright well today I had to go to a viewing for my 'owner's' brother who passed not long ago. That's why I put on the tie. Look a little formal and maybe even a little adorable. But it was still sad because I loved my owner's brother, Nick, just as much as I loved my human Dylan. Nick died from lung cancer at the extremely young age of twenty eight. God bless his soul."

Everyone gasped and started to feel sympathetic for Jax. The only people unaware of the situation were the kids, whom were bouncing around giddily and not paying attention to the adults at all.

"Hey don't worry, I didn't come here to be a downer and drag your spirits with mine. How about we find something to do so I can ease my mind a little." Jax suggested, now able to crack a smile.

"Definitely." Jewel replied, her voice now soft from sympathy.

"Well let me go get out of this ridiculous bow tie and go retrieve my signature headphones." Jax laughed as he flew towards the ghetto hotel he resided at for the trip.

"See ya in a few then!" Blu shouted as Jax flew out of sight.

"I hope he's okay." Katia muttered to herself, turning away from the group to catch a glimpse of the playing kids.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Woo! Finally got another chapter up! I'm not dead yay. Anyways, sorry guys for such a late update. I've been so busy with AP work that I never have time, even on the weekends to type. Now onto the story; I realize that I left out some little details before so I decided to use this chapter to explore some of BrannJax's and Dylan's life. Plus I never clarified how Nick died, only implied it, sorry about that. The story will hopefully start kicking in about two or so chapters from now. Other than that, thanks for reading! Please review and if you spot any grammatical errors, please point them out. BrokenMechanix out.**


	9. Black Gives Way To Blue

**Chapter 9**

**Black Gives Way To Blue**

The previous night was definitely long for everyone. Nico and Pedro took Jax back to the club just to help him cope with his sadness and relax. No drink was involved this time however. On the human side of the spectrum, Dylan and his old buddies went over to Linda's bookstore and the aviary building. Throughout the night everyone got to know each other pretty well and Corbyn and Grant, despite only knowing the Monteiro family for only a day, the brothers easily became acquainted with them and even forged a solid friendship with the family. The same goes for Dylan. After parting their ways for the night, Dylan stayed up in his hotel room, finalizing some sort of project that he had written down in a notebook. Jax caught this but was to tired to get worked up over it. As night swept over Dylan and Jax like a black veil, mourning and grief stayed connected with both of their thoughts throughout the remainder of the night. They both knew that the follow day would be Nick's funeral, and they both knew very well how hard the day will be emotionally.

However, the next morning didn't seem to be so terrible. While Brann and Dylan ate some cereal for breakfast, Dylan blasted some heavy metal on a little boombox that was located in the room. After washing out both of their bowls, Dylan went into his room and retrieved his ironed tuxedo, complete with pants, a white undershirt, and a tie. He walked into the bathroom and proceeded to fit into the suit. Brann grabbed his headphones and his iPod and slipped the headphones around his neck.

_"DEATH RATTLE SHAKING! ACCUMULATING LIFE IT'S TAKING!" _The boombox literally boomed at the heavy riff and bass of the song as Dylan stepped outside of the bathroom, all fancied for the funeral. His parrot joked around with him by making a complimentary, "sexy" whistle as Dylan asked for his opinion on his appearance. With a chuckle, Dylan approached the small radio and flipped its power switch off. With a sigh, Dylan walked to the door then checked his cell phone for the time.

"Well it's time to go. You know...to say our final goodbyes..." He made out, choking up as the words formed. Brann just stayed in one spot, frowning in sadness and looking away from Dylan. This confused the owner, but it immediately clicked in his mind what went through his macaw's mind.

"You don't wanna go?" He asked softly, approaching the gloomy avian.

"No..." Brann squawked as he exhaled loudly.

"I understand. Although I really want you to come, I see that the funeral and Nick's burial may take a toll and your heart and that's why you don't wanna go. I'm fine with that, just be sure to visit his grave after the burial." He said in the same soft tone as he opened up the deck door for Brann. The macaw stepped outside and nodded in response to Dylan's statement. After closing the door, Dylan started making his way to his rental car. Brann flew up over the building after a couple of minutes and watched his owner start driving off towards the same church from the previous day. Brann pondered for a minute or two before deciding to take another trip to the jungle in hopes of locating his brother.

* * *

><p>"Bereaved friends, we are gathered here today to say farewell to Nicholas Jackson who has gone to the hands of God." As the priest spoke the whole church audience fell completely silent. The mass of people, all dressed in black, accounted for many of Nick's friends, both new Brazilian buds and old high school friends, cousins and family, a few ex-girlfriends, and co-workers. The Monteiros, the Williams brothers (Corbyn and Grant), and most importantly, his brother Dylan also were within the sobbing crowd. After a few speeches of condolences from the priest, he allowed people to have their eulogies and let everyone else take one last look at Nick's body in the open casket. Corbyn went up and told an amusing story of his artistic escapades, an ex-girlfriend regretted breaking up with Nick because of his great, self-less, compassionate, and charming attitude. Co-workers glorified Nick's work ethic at the animation studio he had worked at, which Nick was a storyboard designer and lead animator for. When Dylan finally got up to the podium, after fixing his composure, gave his eulogy.<p>

"Nick, man, he is the best brother anyone could ever want. Just like people have already noted, he was smart, a talented artist, responsible, and most of all, very unselfish." He sighed and stared at the ceiling, trying his best not to choke and tear up. He proceeded to explain how Nick gave up his college dreams just to be there for him. He told the audience multiple stories, both sad and amusing to help balance the moods in the large room. "I just can't believe he's not here. I wish...I wish I was able to be there when it happened...I miss him so much..." He finished. Tears finally streamed down his faced as he walked back into the crowd. As he sat down, he placed his head into his palms. "I promised him..._I promised him that I'd be there_..."

After the mass was finishing up, the priest sent one more condolence before reminding the crowd that the burial was going to proceed the mass and that the burial would take place at the same church's graveyard. Dylan looked at Corbyn and Grant and all three nodded at each other and all three left before people started flooding out of the church. Once out at the grave site, the pall-bearers brought out Nick's coffin and brought it to the hole which would be his eternal resting place. Near his coffin, in a wide open area away from other graves, was a riser with musical instruments on it. Dylan, Corbyn, and Grant all got onto the riser and picked up their instruments. Another -hired- musician went up to the small drum-set while Dylan got up to a mic stand and watched as the black-clothed crowd approached them in awe. Linda leaned towards Tulio and whispered in his ear: "I didn't know Dylan and his friends played music."

"Neither did I." Tulio responded, anxious to see how the following minutes would play out. Fernando looked content, "Man, I have a feeling that this will be awesome. Maybe it'll raise the mood."

Dylan stared down the people for a minute before looking at his brother's coffin, now on some sort of pulley that was ready to hoist him down into the square pit. "Alright. Thank you all for coming to my brother's funeral. I definitely means a lot to me. Now I bet you are wondering what we are doing up here. Well you see, I recall some time ago that my brother wanted me to play his favorite song at his funeral as he descended into his grave. He wanted me to play Yellow Ledbetter by Pearl Jam. But I decided to kick up his wish one step further, _I'm going to sing Yellow Ledbetter_. It the least I can do to honor his generous nature and all he's done for me." He explained. Everyone cheered happily. "Now if anyone knows this song, there are no actual lyrics to it. Only mumbling. So I..um am going to sing some made up lyrics for the song. I hope you enjoy." Dylan chuckled as Grant started of the song of with the guitar pattern.

_"I see it, on a porch a letter sat._

_I need some help, don't wanna feel this way again..._

_On the front side, I read the letter...it said..._

_But I don't care...I wanna see him again..."_

Dylan sang the first verse into the microphone carelessly with ease. His voice was deep and relaxed and he a slight country twang that he forced out to help replicated Eddie Vedder's tone. Nonetheless, it worked well. The verse caused everyone to sway back and forth.

_"Oh I don't know whether he'll be in a box or a bag! Oh yeah-e-a-e-ah!_

_Can you see them? Oh out on their porch...yeah._

_Oh but they don't wave.  
><em>

_I see them! Walking away yeah-e-ah. And I know and I know..._

_I don't wanna say...say goodbye..."_

After the first chorus, Grant played the guitar solo. He walked up to his brother and they both played side by side. Dylan was trying his best to sing without choking up. His throat felt constricted and tears already starting forming in his eyes. Dylan glanced up at a tree and then he smiled happily. In one of the branches, he saw his military macaw, Brann, sitting in the tree watching them perform. Brann decided to come back to watch this and the burial. Dylan, now noticing this, had the will to finish the song.

_"I'd like to see him..._

_I'd like to wish this all away._

_But I wake up every morning and I look at the letter _

_To see what it says...oh no._

_Oh in my mind, there's a freedom I'll never have..._

_Wondering whether my brother's coming home in a box or a bag! Oh yeah-e-a-e-ah!"_

Dylan looked over to see his brother's casket slowly lowering into the square pit. As he watched, he started to choke up and tears started to flow out of his eyes more rapidly. Brann nearly mimicked his owner's expression, for he too was paying attention to the body being lowered. Everyone who paid attention to the casket started to have a sudden surge of emotion flow through them, and nearly everyone started to mourn and weep.

_"Oh can you see them? Out on the porch yeah-e-ah._

_But they don't wave..._

_I see them! Go their own ways e-yeah!_

_And I know and I know I don't wanna stay oh._

_I don't wanna sta-e-a-e-ay!_

_I don't wanna say!_

_Oh I don't wanna say..._

_Oh...um..oh...I don't wanna say...Oh oh oh...Goodbye...Nick..."_

After the final lyrics were sung, Dylan let go of the mic stand immediately and squatted down and started crying. He held his head in his arms as he sniffed and moaned. He looked up one more time at the coffin to see the top of the coffin showing as the last part of it entered the grave. Grant pat Dylan on the back and helped him up. In the trees, Brann started crying too. Unable to handle the sadness, he flew off, tears dripping off his feathered face and into the air.

"Goodbye...brother...until next time..." Dylan muttered to himself sadly through his choked voice as he stumbled towards his rental car. It was now official, the funeral had finished and everyone dismissed themselves.

* * *

><p>Jax ended up flying towards the jungle once more. He already spent the first part of his morning search for his brother and watching Dylan's brother be buried. This time, he just needed to be alone. On his way there, he caught another glimpse of the gloomy and run-down orphanage. He felt more weight clinging on to his heart as he passed the building, and every passing second it felt like his heart kept sinking deeper and deeper in his chest. Eventually, Jax made it into the jungle in hopes to have some alone time.<p>

Although his tears were gone for the moment, his eyes were still red and glassy. He made his way over to a high branch near a cliff so he could enjoy the sights of Rio. Jax mind was so linear at the moment that when he flew past Blu and Jewel's home and Rafael's home, he didn't even go and say hi to either of them. Luckily Jewel and Katia saw him fly by and Rafael spotted him over at his own home.

"Hey was that Jax?" Jewel asked Katia, looking at the cloudy blue sky where the military macaw previously was.

"I think so, I wasn't paying too much attention." Katia admitted as he picked up Cobalt and tossed him up in the air. The little macaw proceeded to do a back flip in the air and hovering back into Katia's wings. Issac and Diamond both clapped their wings and wooed.

"My turn now!" Diamond yelled out enthusiastically, "I'm going to do a huge spin!"

"You know, you're an awesome babysitter Katia. You rival Uncle Nico and Uncle Pedro in terms of babysitting." Issac laughed as he gazed at his sister twirling in the air. Katia smiled at the compliment.

"Don't be so harsh on your uncles. They're cool. I mean, they're performers at a club. How cool is that?" She defended diligently as she flung Issac into the air.

"I guess that's true. You're like, super cool in your own ways, and so are they. It all comes down to our uncles making mom and dad kinda angry. That is something you don't do" Cobalt laughed. Katia shrugged and chuckled, she didn't know to respond to that. Then all of a sudden, Jewel soared up into the air. Blu came out of the hollow at a coincidental time and searched for Jewel.

"Hey I finished fixing the nests. Um...Jewel, honey, where are you going?" He asked curiously but in a sweet tone.

"I'm going to go visit Jax, I think something's wrong with him, he flew right by our house and didn't even say hi." Jewel informed, she then looked at her kids. "Come on, we'll all go." After her order, the kids gladly caught up with their mother and Katia and Blu followed a few seconds behind. Over at Rafael's home, Eva volunteered to stay with her kids while Rafael, Nico, and Pedro went and checked up on Jax. They too thought something was wrong with him. Luckily, Blu, Jewel, their kids, and Katia caught up with them, and albeit it caught the the party birds off guard, they didn't think too much about they lead them towards the cliff.

"Are you sure he'll be here?" Blu asked skeptically, "How do you even know that he went this way."

"Mi amigo, I could tell that in the direction he was flying, he was heading up towards the cliffs. That's where our featherless friends are sometimes spotted flying remember. Hopefully my assumption is right, I feel like he's depressed." Rafael answered worriedly.

"Me too..." Jewel nodded slowly, showing concern in her voice.

All the birds landed near the edge of the cliff behind some bushes. They were about to call out for Jax until they heard singing of in the distance. Pedro, who pointed it out, lead the group towards the source of the singing. When they finally found out where the singing was coming from, everyone hid behind the bushes and peeked out to see who was singing. What they saw was shocking to everyone.

"Is that Jax? Is he really singing?" Katia asked rhetorically, taking notice of the taped-up headphones the macaw wore on his ear openings.

"It is...but the singing...it's so masterful." Rafael answered, not taking account to the fact that the question was rhetorical.

_"Stuttering, cold and damp..._

_Steal the warm wind tired friend_.

_Times are gone for honest men, sometimes it's far to long for snakes..."_

Jax's voice had a gritty tone to yet he also sang smoothly. He had a mature and deep tone as well, and he pulled off the higher pitched notes and yells masterfully. Even if he sounded sad when singing, it was very enjoyable for the group to listen to.

_"In my shoes, a walking sleep._

_In my youth I pray to keep!_

_Heaven send Hell away, no sings like you anymore..._

_Black hole sun won't you come, and wash away the rain._

_Black hole sun, won't you come, oh won't you come..."_

Jax stopped after singing the chorus, much to everyone's displeasure. He slid the headphones down to his neck and he leaned his head against a tree trunk and sighed.

"Come and wash away the rain..." He muttered one last time before everyone appeared out of the bushes. Jax didn't even have to look up to know that his new friends were there behind. "Hey guys...what's up?" He asked solemnly.

"Bro that was some amazing singing!" Nico bursted out eagerly.

"Ya man, you got some crazy skills Jax!" Pedro added on. Both birds got angry glares from Blu, Jewel, Katia, and Rafael.

"Hey guys don't hate on the uncles. They're only telling the truth." Cobalt defended. Nico and Pedro nodded in correspondence rapidly and nervously. Rafael broke from this current conversation and sat next to Jax.

"Eu sei que é meu amigo algo errado. Please just tell us, we're here for you." He said confidently and reassuringly. Jax looked back at the Toucan, who smiled at him and opened his beak to answer.

"I'm just upset that's all. I just got back from a funeral for my human's brother. I already told you that I went to his viewing yesterday." Jax informed slowly, still retaining his solemn tone.

Everyone else advanced behind Rafael and peeked around to see Jax's face.

"Yes I remember amigo. However you never told else everything about this Nick character...that was his name right?" Rafael remarked, wanting a little clarification. Jax turned around to everyone and starting his own long eulogy about Nick. He mentioned Nick's personality, his charm, how he was an amazing artist, and of course the whole selfless story of him giving up his dreams for his brother. Everyone was left in awe and sympathy. Jewel, who was also in the middle with humans, now had another reason to believe that many humans, in fact, are good-willed.

"Wow I never knew that your human's brother was so generous and amazing in all forms." Jewel said as she sat next to Rafael.

"Yeah we're all sorry to hear about your loss man." Nico added in with a solemn tone. Everyone nodded slowly in accordance to Nico's statement. Jax smiled lightly at everyone then stared back at the ground.

"Thanks." He said. All of a sudden, tears started to form from his eyeballs. "I...I can't believe he's gone. Why does Nick have to go? He was such an aspiring human!" Jax cried, the tears streaming down his face. He put a wing up and covered one of his eyeballs and he continued to sob. Rafael pat him on the back and tried to comfort him with words. "I miss him. I miss him so much..." He now sobbed on Rafael's shoulder.

"Hey hey, it'll be fine. You'll pull through." She said reassuringly, giving Jax a sincere grin. Jax looked up at her and Rafael and smiled back at them. He then turned to the others and nodded at them.

"Thanks guys for being here for me. I just need a little...alone time. I gotta ponder." He requested. Everyone easily obliged and lifting themselves up into the air.

"Hey no problem Jax, we're always here for you." Katia told him sympathetically before taking off.

"Take care Jax!" Pedro, Nico, and Blu shouted in unison as they and Blu's kids flew off with Katia. Jewel and Rafael gave Jax a dismissal nod before also taking to the skies. After everyone left, Jax thought to himself about Nick and his own brother.

"Why did I act like an ass towards you Wyatt?" He said out loud, "I mean, you resembled Nick. You were generous and everything, I'm just a selfish jerk. I wish I could just take back everything I said that day. I just hope...that I...I...can find you to apologize at least..." Jax sighed heavily and closed his eyes. The macaw started to reminisce about their childhood. Despite the fact that his childhood was not perfect, and in fact, was actually filled with lots of negative events, Wyatt was always there to cheer him up and pull him through the darkest of times. It was just like how Nick was there for his younger sibling. Jax opened his eyes to be greeted by the sights of beautiful Brazil staring back at him. He saw the Christ the Redeemer statue atop a mountain giving a loving embrace to its city. The military macaw smiled at the view and sighed a breath of relief.

"I see why Wyatt wanted to come back here. This place is amazing, especially from a view like this."

After admiring the city for another ten minutes, Jax took off to the sky, deciding that it was time to hang out with his friends.

* * *

><p>"Yeah I'm telling you guys he was a super singer! I wish I could sing like that!" Cobalt boasted to a few of Rafael's kids.<p>

"Wow he sounds so cool. Maybe we shouldn't view him as the enemy then." A boy toucan spoke up through the crowd of young toucans. His plentiful siblings nodded. "Maybe he should babysit us if he's really as cool as you guys say." A young girl toucan said this time.

"Definitely." Issac replied, turning to his sister and brother with an approving look.

"Oh yeah! We'll all ask mom and dad tomorrow then. Deal?" Diamond suggested. The three baby blue macaws shook their wings on it. Meanwhile, Rafael was explaining to his mate about the Jax situation.

"That's so sad. I hope Jax is okay..." Eva said concernedly. Rafael nodded slightly and gazed at the ground solemnly.

"The dude can sing though!" Pedro brought up, hoping to brighten the mood. Nico twirled his bottle-cap hat then tilted it back on his head.

"Man, we should have him play at The Canopy while he's here. He'd make tons of fans." Nico added on eagerly. Pedro acknowledged this by giving Nico a high-five with his wing. Blu looked at them, puzzled.

"Um...I thought that was a samba club. He wasn't singing samba. I believe that's some form of rock song. It wouldn't fit too well with the crowd; would it?" Blu noted seriously, becoming a buzz kill to Nico and Pedro's now-anxious attitude.

"A little change in pace for the club wouldn't be too horrible though Blu." Katia retorted, giving him a sly look.

"Yeah, and besides, it'll keep his mind off of the funeral and depressing thoughts." Jewel added wisely. Everyone now agreed with having Jax ease his mind by performing at the club. However, the consensus was that Nico and Pedro had to convince him to oblige to the offer since it was their idea.

"Deal. We'll do it maybe a few days before Carnaval!" Nico exclaimed in glee.

"Oh right that's in three days!" Blu shouted, trying to imply that it was the magical time when he and Jewel had kissed and fell in love. Jewel smiled back at him, but gave him no loving or suggestive remark. This threw Blu off and made him ponder.

"I can't wait. It'll be me and Blu's anniversary...well...early anniversary since Carnaval was in March last year. But hey, I bet Blu and I will do something romantic that night." Jewel said dreamily. Blu now felt like everything had re-aligned itself.

"Oh...making love I see? You Naughty birdies." Katia teased, nudging Jewel. Blu and Jewel both blushed a bright pink under their feathers while the other adult birds laughed.

"No! That was not what I was getting at!" Jewel retorted nervously, obviously embarrassed. "Well...there may be love that night too..." She muttered under her breath. Only Blu heard the last comment and smiled suggestively at her.

"I love you." He mouthed to her. He expected a 'love you too' in return, but he only got a smile. Everything got out of line again in his head. 'Am I not that charming anymore? Does she not like me like I used too?' Blu panicked mentally. He thought positively and tried to think of it as nothing, and he just moved on.

"Well guys, I'm sure our amigo is going to catch up with us soon, and when he does, do you all wanna take him around Rio once more, maybe even introduce him to Luis?" Rafael suggested, raising his wings in a shrug. Everyone nodded.

"Yeah that sounds cool. We'll do that." Nico obliged. Eavesdropping, all of the kids bounced up and down cheerfully and excitedly.

"Calm down little ones. You may or may not go. We'll see." Rafael appointed to every chick, including Blu and Jewel's. They all groaned in disappointment.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Awesome! I was able to get a chapter done even with AP homework in the way. Anyways, this chapter is very musically oriented so I'll give smart people points to whoever can name the band or song (even more smart people points if you tell me the song, artist, AND album it's from) that plays the song in the beginning of the chapter on the boom box. Extra kudos to whoever knows the band and the song which Jax sang in this chapter as well. Speaking about music, it was hard making up lyrics for Yellow Ledbetter that related more to Dylan than war. But hey it all worked out in the end. As always, thanks for reading! Please review and point out any grammatical errors you spot in the reading so I can fix it ASAP!<strong>

_And uh...just in case, I'll put a little disclaimer:_

**I do NOT own any of the songs used within this text. The songs belong to their rightful owners and record labels. **


	10. Monkey Business

**Chapter 10**

**Monkey Business  
><strong>

Almost everyone went to take Jax around another trip of Rio de Janeiro. The only people that stayed back was Rafael, Eva, and their eighteen children. This tour lasted until dawn. Nico and Pedro, both really anxious to see Jax perform, tried their best to imply it to the still sullen military macaw. Eventually the implying didn't work, so Pedro resorted to begging and pestering while Nico tried to convince him with amiable compliments.

"Bleh, it's alright. My voice isn't all THAT special..." Jax said humbly.

"Oh come on, you know you can sing really well. I think you'll be a huge hit and The Canopy." Nico remarked smoothly, tipping his bottle-cap mannerly.

"Come on big guy, why don't you do it? It'll be awesome and fun. Please perform...please?" Pedro pleaded. The cardinal flew up to Jax's face and tried to give him an irresistible cute face to help sway his decision. The face definitely wasn't irresistible anymore.

"Look, thanks for all the nice things and all, but I'm not going to perform. For the last two or three hours, you two have done nothing but beg for me to perform at your club. And for that same duration, I told you the same answer, I'm NOT a performer and probably never be one." Jax retorted in a semi-irritated tone, "Besides, I'm still in shock and depression over Nick's death." Both the canary and the cardinal lowered their heads shamefully and apologized. Jax dismissed the two smaller birds playfully before turning to Katia and the Spix macaws.

"Where next?"

"Uh...I'm not sure..." Katia replied with a nervous and sheepish chuckle. Everyone then simultaneously mentally brainstormed their next destination. Just as everyone flew over some sidewalks on the Ipanema beach, Jax took a gander at an ice cream vendor at one of the street corners.

"Hey you guys wanna get some ice cream?" He asked. As soon as the sentence was formed, all three of Blu and Jewel's children flailed around hysterically.

"Come on come on come on. Please can we get ice cream?" Cobalt begged, trying the same 'cutesy' tactic Pedro used on his mom.

"I promise I'll be good." Isaac directed towards both of his parents. Diamond repeated what Isaac said, but also added in a cutesy begging face too.

"Kids, I've told you already, you don't need those sweet sna-" Jewel tried to explain in a motherly tone before getting cut off by Jax.

"Hey don't worry about Jewel, it's my treat. They can all split an ice cream sandwich or something if you are really worried about them eating human food. I'll get you all something too while we're at it." Jax said, "Besides, human food won't kill them."

Jewel sighed and allowed Jax to retrieve the ice cream treats. Blu questioned how the military macaw would get the ice cream. His response was a chuckle and a shrug from Jax.

"I guess I just have to roll with the punches." Jax responded in a smart alec tone. Jax asked what everyone wanted and after the orders were taken, he flew over to the ice cream cart while everyone else watched him pull off his plan. There was a seagull close to the cart and Jax spoke to him as if he was trying to negotiate with him. The other birds were puzzled by the event they were seeing. With a nod from the seagull, Jax flew back to the confused group while the seagull took a plastic bag in his bill and waited until the ice cream vendor was not looking at he quickly swiped all of the food that was desired. The seagull then flew back to Jax and handed him the bag and left.

"Wow, that wasn't the right for the seagull to steal it." Katia pointed out as she scoured the bag for a orange cream Popsicle.

"How did you even get that seagull to steal the desserts?" Nico asked as he took out a wrapped Drumstick ice cream cone.

Jax looked a little content with himself before answering, "Well, I didn't ask him to steal the desserts specifically. However, I didn't have any money on me, so I asked the guy if he'd like to get these sweet treats for us, in any method, and we ended up bargaining. He said he was banned from that samba club and I told him if he was able to get us the ice cream, then I'd talk to Nico and Pedro about letting him back in."

Nico and Pedro nearly dropped their ice cream upon hearing the brief little story.

"Dude, we kicked out a seagull guy for creeping on too many ladies. We like to keep things fun at The Canopy, that can't happen when we have some dude harassing girls. That must've been him." Pedro retorted, a little flustered with Jax's decisions.

"Hey, I didn't tell him he'd be back there_ permanently_. Just let him in there, and if he is like that again, give him another eighty-six." Jax answered back in another smart alec tone. Nico and Pedro stared at each other and sighed, and decided Jax was right. They all decided to talk about a new subject and just eat their ice cream. And just like Jax promised, Blu and Jewel's children spit an ice cream sandwich while listening intently on the new topic: Carnaval.

* * *

><p>Dylan and the Monteiro family were at the security check at the airport, ready to say goodbye to the Williams brothers. The two young adults already started putting their objects into the plastic container the airport security guards gave them. While the security guards slid the containers through the x-ray machine, the two brothers gave everyone a hug.<p>

"Man, although it's only been a day, I gotta say, you guys are a cool family. It was great meeting you." Corbyn complimented to the Monteiros. Grant broke away from a friendly hug from Dylan and stared at him straight in the eyes.

"Dylan, I'm so sorry that you had to lose Nick. I know it'll be tough for you, but you're going to make it through this tough time. Got it?" Grant said sternly to his best friend. Dylan nodded and smiled in response. "I wish we could've stayed longer and explore Brazil, but I can't request any vacation time with school still going on, it would be too risky for me." Grant chuckled as his eyes met Dylan's violin tattoo. "Oh yeah, how's that spider bite treating you lately?" This last statement sort of shocked the Monteiros.

"Haven't had any problems really." Dylan responded as he raised up his right hand to take a look at the two small bite marks on the tattoo, "It sometimes gets really itchy though."

"Good then. The itchiness should just gradually decrease in time, so I guess there's nothing wrong with ya then." Grant said as he gave Dylan one last firm handshake. "Well this is were we part for now. Until next time."

"Good luck you guys! It was definitely nice meeting you. We hope you visit again." Tulio shouted to the brothers as they entered the metal detectors in the security check.

"Don't worry, after seeing this place, I just might have to bring my fiancé down to Rio for our wedding." Grant hollered back, waving as he and he brother back-pedaled towards their terminal.

"That would be amazing! Make sure you call us if you decide to get married here!" Linda yelled as the two brothers walked out of sight. After a long, awkward silence, the group silently left the airport and drove back into the heart of the city.

* * *

><p>After leaving the airport, everyone agreed on going over to the Copacabana beach area to show Dylan around some more. The group was walking along the signature wave pavement and just having a regular conversation when Linda decided to bring up the tattoo.<p>

"So Grant said that on that violin tattoo is a spider bite scar?" She asked curiously. Dylan raised both eyebrows, not expecting the question to be brought up. After recalling the events that happened, Dylan sighed and turned to look at Linda.

"Yep. I have a spider bite scar, from a brown recluse. The scar is actually pretty recent, but uh...I'll tell you guys that story another day, I don't feel like bringing up that situation after today's schedule." Dylan answered, trying his best to masquerade his sorrow that still trailed him after the funeral. Linda understood what Dylan said and politely branched off from the topic. Fernando, realizing that the conversation was fading, decided to compliment Dylan's singing. The tattooed young man felt very honored by the compliment and couldn't help but smile at the boy.

"Thanks Fernando. That actually means quite a lot." He thanked as he eyes came across a music store. The store was fairly modest in size, and there was some decent instruments and drums displayed in the windows, which only made Dylan's eagerness to rise. "Whoa. Come on, I wanna check that place out!" Dylan yelped eagerly as he ran towards the store's door. Linda, Fernando, and Tulio all shrugged and followed him inside. Almost immediately, Dylan hustled to the percussion section of the store and started looking at all of the instruments the store had out for display.

"I didn't now that you were into music Dylan." Tulio nonchalantly pointed out while he and his family watched Dylan hit and mess with some of the various drums throughout the store. They could help but feel amused by the young man's inability to pass a single drum without hitting it once. Dylan, who at first ignored Tulio comment, turned around to him with a confused look.

"Didn't you just see me sing at my brother's funeral not even ten hours ago? Of course I'm into music." Dylan taunted, chuckling at Tulio's odd question.

"Well I just thought you were doing that in memory of your brother..." Tulio responded in a soft tone. Dylan chuckled some more and slightly shook his head. Afterwards, Dylan's eye's caught onto a large twelve piece drum set out in the back of the store and he couldn't resist the urge to sit down on the drum throne and admire the kit. 'Definitely is way nicer than my kit.' Dylan thought to himself as he inspected the shining bronze splash cymbals on the set. Without leaving the stool, Dylan beckoned one of the employees at the store to the drum set to ask if he was allowed to play it. The worker shook his head.

"Sorry, but this is only for display." Dylan could help but pout and feel flustered with the answer he received. Then, while the employee walked away, Dylan glanced around quickly then proceeded to take a boxed pair of drumsticks off of a nearby cabinet and slid the drumsticks out of the box. He then walked back over to the drum set at sat back down at the throne. Linda, Tulio, and Fernando, who had all decided to look around the store by themselves for a little while, reunited with their new friend at the drum set. Linda was about to ask if Dylan was ready to leave, but then she notice Dylan staring at the set while twirling both drumsticks through his fingers. Without even paying attention to his surroundings, Dylan started hitting random drums and cymbals on the kit to get a feeling for what the equipment was.

Upon hearing the sound of the drum kit, the owner of the store marched out to Dylan's position, ready to stop Dylan from playing. However, once he got there, he saw Dylan start playing a drum solo. Dylan at first a smooth jazz-like rhythm with many tom and hi-hat hits incorporated with many ride bell hits. His playing was well synchronized and it surprised the Monteiros and the owner himself. Then he started to play immensely fast rolls across the assortment of drums almost blissfully. Dylan then abruptly stopped when he saw the owner staring at him in amazement.

"Oh sorry I just had to pla-"

"No no no! We normally don't let people play the set because we don't want to upset people on the beach that are able to hear us with random deafening clashes and such- but you! You must be a professional drummer! Sir, you may play the set as long as you want. And those drumsticks you technically stole, I guess I'll make them on the house then! Divirta-se!" The owner interrupted. Dylan was thrown off by his use of the word professional, and he actually felt quite honored by it. When the drummer turned around, he saw lots of people watching him. The store had gone quiet with anticipation to see what the "tourist" was going to play next.

"Wow I didn't know I was great enough to attract a crowd." Dylan said humble. "Well if I have permission now, I might as well play to the best of my ability." With that said, Dylan hit the drums with more force, this time, breaking out into a fast and complicated tom pattern. He transitioned into a metal beat with ease, still content on demonstrating all of the hardest coordinated fills he knew. Linda, Tulio, and Fernando just stared at each other, flabbergasted.

Outside of the store, on the beach, people near the wavy sidewalk could hear the muffled sound of the drums. On that beach, a young Brazilian man, who looked like he was trying to avoid someone (he even wore large sunglasses), heard the skillful playing while sunbathing and was intrigued to enter the store to see who was playing inside. He got up slowly, looked around consciously, placed a and khaki shorts over his dry swim trunks. He crossed the street and entered the store and walked over the the enthusiastic musician.

* * *

><p>"Man I gotta say, that statue was really cool close up. Thanks for taking me over there guys." Jax thanked as sincerely as he could. The group was just flying away from the Christ the Redeemer statue, which they hung out on for a little while and chatted about Carnaval. Nico and Pedro were obviously the most excited; they kept babbling on about how Rio de Janeiro was going to be so "hardcore and party heavy" in just three days. Now the group was flying back into the city, into the Dona Marta, a steep slum. At first, Jax wanted to visit the area, then when the others found out that their old friend Kipo was going to be in that area, they eagerly wanted the two birds to be introduced.<p>

"Oh no problem Jax, it's the least we can do for you." Katia replied, return Jax's sincere tone with a sincere smile.

"Yeah, I mean, I haven't gotten around to checking out the city. It is definitely more fun to explore with people though." Jax noted.

"You can say that again." Jewel laughed as they entered the favela. Everyone landed at a fruit market at they saw their old friend Kipo talking with three other birds. As everyone walked towards Kipo, the other three birds bid farewell to Kipo flew off.

"Hey Kipo! Long time no see!" Blu greeted with a shout as the spoonbill turned around with a surprised expression. Jewel nodded with her mate's words and gave Kipo a friendly hug.

"Guys! It's been a while! I assume you little ones are doing fine." Kipo chuckled as he gave a hug to the little blue macaws. He then looked up to see Katia and Jax standing next to each other. "And who are these two birdies? I've never seen you guys before."

"This here is Katia." Nico pointed out, flying over to the blue-and-gold macaw.

"And this one's Jax!" Pedro finished, also flying over to his respective bird. Kipo just laughed and looked at them suggestively.

"Well, you two make a cute couple." He teased. Katia blushed immediately. Jax was going to do the same, but instead, he shook it off and placed his wing around Katia and gave off a smug look.

"What can I say? I'm a lady's man." The military macaw boasted. Katia sneered at the cocky bird and elbowed him in the stomach with her wing. While Jax was knelt over, coughing from the blow, Katia shook Kipo's wing. After Jax recuperated from the blow, he also went up to shake the spoonbill's wing.

Jewel then looked up and squinted her eyes. She saw some sort of small figure off in the distance. It looked like a monkey. She then looked back down to see everyone talking about The Canopy. Then Jewel noticed, that behind them was a gang of marmosets, sneaking up to. "Hey look out!" She yelled, pointing to where the little monkeys were emerging from. The small mammals practically froze and they waited while their leader, Mauro, nonchalantly walked up to the conversing birds.

"Why hello again. I'm back to reclaim those blue birds I failed to capture the first time." Mauro chuckled devilishly as he looked up to Blu. Jax looked uneasy and slightly backed away. The other birds just stared Mauro down, but the marmoset did not get intimidated.

"Alright shrimp, we've already gone through this once, you are NOT going to get Blu and Jewel, and especially their kids. You are just setting yourself up for failure once more." Kipo defended while moving in front of the Spix macaws, breathing heavily in hopes to scare Mauro. Still no avail. While the rest of the birds (except for Jax, who tried to remain unseen from the small monkeys) formed a wall in front of Blu, Jewel, and their children, Mauro stood in front of them and laughed sheepishly.

"Look at you guys, thinking that six of you, plus the three kids, are going to beat _all of us_ in a fight..." Mauro said in a beckoning tone. Just then, about forty marmosets walked out from under boxes, popped out from crates, and emerged from the fruit stands. "You guys are out numbered. Might as well walked into the cages right now." Mauro ordered the frozen monkeys to reveal three cages that were under a fruit stand. Without any hesitation, Mauro, stared once more at the birds, and with a smirk, he yelled: "ATTACK!"

* * *

><p>While Dylan mixed up his solo a little bit, the young Brazilian man walked up, stood by the Monteiros, and watched the drummer do his thing. He was impressed and he started to grin. When Dylan took a little breather, everyone started to clap and cheer. Then this mysterious young man spoke up loudly.<p>

"Hey how about you play some samba? I'm sure us local Brazilians would love to hear it." The man said monotonously. Dylan shrugged at the request.

"Sure why not. Just let me come up with something." Almost immediately after finishing his sentence, Dylan started to play a Latin drum beat. He then flawlessly infused it into a mix between an Afro-Cuban and Samba beat. The young man was quite impressed and nodded his head. He then took off his sunglasses and rubbed them on his t-shirt, not realizing what he had just done. The whole crowd turned to look at him in shock. People were gasping and taking pictures of this man, all while Dylan stared at him confusedly whilst playing his samba solo.

"It's Marquis Richard Centeno." Tulio yelled excitedly, trying to nudge Linda into finding a pen and paper for him to sign. Dylan was so lost that he quit playing entirely. He watched entirely as the owner nervously walked up to this "Marquis" and shook his hand haphazardly.

"What is going on?" Dylan shouted, flustered at the randomness of the event that had just unfolded. Fernando decided to hop next to Dylan and explain.

"You see, Marquis Richard is very famous and one of the most popular, if not, the most popular samba and bossa-nova musician in Brazil. Just so know, if you didn't already, he is a guitarist and a singer. I don't know what he wants with you, but you are really lucky considering a Brazilian celebrity just walked up to talk to you." Fernando explained while Marquis made his way next to Dylan as well.

"Alright, well I can see that people are starting to flood around and it's going to make business hard for me." Marquis admitted as he pulled out a business card and handed it to the still confused drummer. "So..um...when you get home, give me a call right away on this number. My name and everything is on there if you don't know me. I'll talk to you soon...uh..."

"Dylan. Dylan Jackson."

"Dylan Jackson! I'll talk to you soon Dylan!" Marquis laughed as he firmly shook Dylan's hand and started to make his way out of the door. As soon as Marquis left, people started to flood out of the store to follow him. Without saying a single word, Dylan got up and walked out of the door.

"I think I've had enough today. My mind has probably melted just now. I think I'm going to head back up to my apartment." Dylan trailed off, still in shock with the fact that a professional musician just recognized his playing ability. With his sentence finished, the group walked back along the beach to go back to their cars. Needless to say, they were all speechless. After getting into their separate cars, Dylan waved goodbye to Linda, Tulio, and Fernando and drove back to Rocinha to his hotel.

* * *

><p>The clashing animals had been attacking each other for about five minutes. Although Blu and Jewel did not want their kids to be fighting with the monkeys, they had no choice but to let them duke it out with the monkeys as well, but they were along side their parents the whole time.<p>

"Mom, I'm kinda scared." Diamond said shakily as she inched closer to her mother. Jewel finished throwing a marmoset off her back and into a crate head-first, knocking him unconscious. She then comforted her daughter while Blu and his sons fended off some of the marmosets as well.

"Man this is so much fun! I feel powerful!" Cobalt yelled to Isaac as him as his brother double-teamed a few monkey by clothes-lining them. Isaac responded with an awkward-sounding battle cry. Nico and Pedro reused their fruit throwing technique from their last fight with the marmosets and successfully hit a few of them. Jax was protecting Katia, who started to get overwhelmed by monkeys. Whenever Jax stepped in front of a monkey, they always would stare at him inquisitively before getting hit in the face. Kipo was probably doing the best in terms of fighting. He dealt with the most monkeys and was dodging nearly all of the hits they threw and he knocked a few unconscious by slamming them against each other, dropping them onto the concrete, and dropping some of the fruit crates on them.

After about another ten minutes of fighting, only half of the monkeys were unconscious. The birds seemed to have been destroying the marmosets, but at the same time, the birds were also getting tired and fatigued as well. Kipo, eventually becoming the main target, was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of marmosets that charged at him at once. Only about seven marmosets did not attack Kipo. The small monkeys took out the tall bird and jumped on him and smacked his face around until they were certain he was knocked out. Luckily, Kipo, despite being knocked out, only suffered from bruises and a few scratches. The large group of marmosets that took out Kipo then charged towards the Spix macaws. Katia, who leaned on Jax's side for support, was breathing very heavily and wanted to back out of the fighting. Jax took notice of her condition and looked at her worriedly.

"Look Katia, you don't need to fight anymore. I know there's still a lot of monkeys out there and you don't want to leave, but you're no longer in condition to fight anymore. Don't worry about the amount of marmosets in this scrap, I'm a good fighter, I'll stop them from taking the blue macaws." Jax ordered as he flew towards the mass of where the fighting was. Katia understood and did her best to leave the area as soon as possible. Despite being a cocky jerk, she trusted that Jax, along with Nico and Pedro, were going to stop Mauro and his crew. When Jax got there, he saw about six marmosets dragging the exhausted offspring into a cage. The kids did not get knocked out, but however, passed out from exhaustion. Nico and Pedro chased after them since Blu and Jewel were blinded by the rest of the marmosets attacking them. However, someone clashed Nico and Pedro's heads together forcefully as they flew frantically, taking the two birds out of commission. Blu, just like Kipo, eventually was overwhelmed by marmosets and was eventually jumped and slapped into unconsciousness. Jewel, seeing this, took her rage out on as many marmosets as she could. She then turned to help Jax, who now was being attacked by multiple marmosets, including Mauro, but she then overheard something in his little skirmish.

"Whoa whoa wait...I know you!" Mauro shouted as he called off the attacks on Jax. The military macaw noticed that Jewel was staring at them and he grew tense and uneasy once more. "You're the guy tha-" Before Mauro could finish his statement, Jax hit him on the top of his head with his beak as hard as he could. It made Mauro collapse. Now with their leader knocked out, the remaining marmosets continued to attack Jax. Jewel, after breaking her puzzled train-of-thought, finally helps out Jax with taking out the small monkeys. She fought off a few, and a few dispatched to go carry Blu into one of the cages. Eventually, all of the marmosets just randomly dissipated from the fighting, which made Jewel confident and feel powerful. She then walked over to the cages to free her family.

"Man that was some intense stuff. You know Jax we-" Before she could even free her mate, Jewel herself was knocked unconscious and dragged into the last empty cage.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Woo! Man, I am so sorry again for the late update, school's really kicking my ass recently. My class work barely gives me anytime to work on my stories at all. Anyways, the story should be kicking in at full force from this point on. As always, please review, any constructive criticism is always welcome. If you spot any grammatical errors or any errors, please tell me through an IM or through the review system or something so I can fix them right away! Thanks for reading! BrokenMechanix out!<strong>


	11. Revenga

**Chapter 11**

**Revenga  
><strong>

"Uh, my aching head..." Jewel muttered, still dizzy and semiconscious from the battle they just endured. When the light blue bird came to her senses, she realized that she was in a draped cage and was being carried somewhere**. **Although it was few, the footsteps she heard had kept ringing through her head. "Oh god, no...not again..." Jewel whispered to herself, now scared.

In another cage, Blu was pacing in circles in his cage, biting the tips of his feathers in nervousness and fear. "Jewel! Colby! Diamond! Isaac! Where are you guys!" He yelled out as loud as he could. Luckily, he heard his kids yelling back at him.

"Dad! What is going on?" Diamond cried out while tears streamed down her face.

"Help us!" Isaac also cried out fearfully.

"I don't wanna die!" Cobalt shouted as if he was in agony. Then while they yelled out to their father, a hand struck the cage with intense force.

"Shut up you stupid birds!" A Brazilian man lashed out angrily. Both the power in his voice and his hand which struck the cage, scared the young Spix macaws so much, that they all started to cry from terror. Blu, able to hear their pleas, started to yell aimlessly, despite that neither of them could see each other due to the fact that their cages were covered. Jewel, as she felt her cage being placed down, faintly hear her mate and kids. She yelled out Blu's name, but instead of a response from Blu, the rag cover was peeled of by a familiar sulfur-crested cockatoo.

"Why, it's so nice to see this big, beautiful, blue face once more." The white bird said in a low monotonous voice. His sarcastic quote was followed by lunatic-like hysterical laughter. Jewel grimaced at the sight of the cockatoos face, but her eyes still focused on him sternly.

"Nigel..." She muttered. "Where is my family?" Jewel said with rage as she gritted her beak together.

"Oh my dear, they are just boarding the plane, let me show them to you." Nigel chuckled manically before flying over to another cage. With the cover off, Jewel now knew that they were on board of a plane. She gulped as she turned back around to see Nigel pull the cover off of her mate's cage, followed by a quick dash to the kids' cage to pull off their cover. "You know, I'd let you guys reunited and all of that cutesy crap, but we don't have the time. We gotta get this plane into the air after we load up a few other birds on top of your cages. I say this so the smart one doesn't escape. Now Buckle your seat belts kiddies." He said evilly as he flew towards his owner, Marcel, who was back to his old trick again. Once he landed on Marcel's shoulder he squawked for attention as is he was asking the human for something.

While everyone sulked in their own separate cages, Blu couldn't help but gaze outside of the plane. Off in the distance, Blu saw Nigel fly over to another bird and Blu noticed that Nigel had a medium-sized brown bag in one of his talons as he flew up to this unknown bird. Blu, although he had to squint, could tell that the bird was a macaw, but he couldn't tell the color of the feathers from afar. When he realized that the bird was a macaw, Blu immediately tried to shove any quick conclusions that popped into his mind. Before he could even determine the macaw that Nigel was conversing with, it flew off, taking the bag with him or her.

* * *

><p>Katia flew as fast as she could into the jungle to locate Rafael. When Jax told Katia to leave the battle grounds at the fruit market, she left the area just as told. However, before she even left the favela, she had the feeling that something bad was happening. When she returned to the fight, she saw the marmosets load up some of their fallen comrades into the back of a large truck, but she also saw Kipo lying on the ground, semi-conscious. While she went to get help, the marmosets loaded the truck with the three covered cages before the truck drove off. Once Katia came back with a few birds that could help Kipo, she realized that the cages were gone. Katia pleaded Kipo to help her look for the Spix macaw family. Unfortunately, the birds that helped Kipo regain a small amount of strength notified the blue-and-yellow bird that Kipo had suffered a concussion and needed to rest. Now she is on the search for Rafael in the jungle. If he wasn't able to help, then she would have to save her friends on her own. Funniest thing is, she completely skipped out on the fact that Nico and Pedro weren't at the scene either.<p>

"Gotta hurry. Gotta hurry. Gotta hurry." Katia panted worriedly as she looked for each landmark that indicated the directions to Rafael's home. After about five minutes, when the sun went down, she was able to find Rafael's home. Prepared for the bombardment of children as she entered their property, Katia yelled out Rafael's name at the top of her lungs. To her surprise, no toucan chicks attacked her. Both Eva and Rafael popped their heads out of their hollow to greet their friend, but then they realized that she looked incredibly concerned and she paced back and forth to kept from panicking.

"We just got done putting the kids to bed. And yes it is early and sundown was not long ago, so you don't say anything about that; they are in trouble. Anyways, since our kids are asleep, you gotta calm down and quietly tell us what is going on meu amigo." Rafael said quietly as he and his mate flew down to meet Katia at the ground.

"Yes. O que é querida errado?" Eva asked. Katia gulped and let out a long, deep breath.

"Okay you see, we were helping cheer up Jax by taking him around Rio." Katia started, still panicking, "Then when we went to go meet up with Kipo, we were ambushed and outnumbered by marmosets. Now they have Blu, Jewel, and her kids!"

Rafael and Eva's eyes widened with shock and they stared at each other with their beaks dropped. "Oh god, we don't much time. I still remember the small airport where I was taken last time we were captured. We have to assume they are there." Rafael bursted out, terrified from the news. Eva looked in in the eyes with concern and gave him a quick kiss.

"I'll stay here and watch the kids. You go and help our friends my love." Eva said in a near demanding, yet worried tone. Rafael nodded and while he watched Katia immediately go into the sky, Rafael couldn't help but feel puzzled.

"Hey, where's Nico and Pedro?" He asked, scratching the underside of his beak. Katia turned her head to face Rafael. She felt a single sweat drop fall from her head.

"Um...uh...I...uh...completely forgot about them. If I'm right, they got captured too?" She said, making her assumption sound more like a question. "Wow, I'm a horrible friend."

"This is a stressful situation, I don't blame you for forgetting them. But we need to go _now_."

* * *

><p>"Come on! I've been sitting here for nearly ten minutes already waiting for you idiots to finish up loading the cargo hold." Marcel yelled to his two new henchmen. Unfortunately they weren't smarter than the previous two men he worked with, but he didn't care, he was sure that he could get away with paying them less of the share than he promised. "I'm going to go to the cockpit now. If you guys do not finish and do not enter the cockpit in five minutes, I will not split the payment for you two. That'll suck too, because getting paid in advanced means we all could've gone on vacation..." He said aimlessly, trying his best to inspire his two workers into working even harder. The henchmen were definitely motivated to finished now.<p>

Nigel fly into the cargo hold and made sure that the blue macaws were in his vision at all times. "I learned from my mistakes. I'm not letting the smart one destroy my feathers again. You wouldn't believe how long it took to regrow all of those feathers back." The cockatoo chuckled as if nothing was wrong. Blu gave him a dirty look and Nigel shook his head and smirked as a response. "Oh how rude of you to stare at me like that. It doesn't matter, before when we land in the Americas to deliver you, I'll probably have already exacted my revenge on you." He said in a menacing tone, flying over to the cage and griping Blu by his throat. Jewel yelled at Nigel to stop and their kids covered their eyes. Nigel laughed hysterically and flew back to his post. He sighed in relief and let his eyes wander around the near-completely loaded cargo hold and smiled slightly. "This is going to be one fun flight."

**About five minutes prior...**

Rafael and Katia flew as fast as they can to locate the airport which their friends were held captive at. The airport was about twenty five minutes away from Rafael's home at the speed the two were flying. Miraculously, while on their flight, the two henchmen that Marcel hired were not very time-efficient with their work, so that gave them a small, but generous, time gap to reach the airport. Luckily, Katia and Rafael arrived five minutes before Marcel's new henchmen finished up loading up the cargo hold. Although out of breath, Rafael was still able to guide Katia to their destination. After their speedy escapade, the duo located the airport. Katia, feeling uneasy, leaned up against Rafael. The old toucan tried to be as reassuring as he can with only facial expressions, but it only seem to have a light effect.

"You are definitely sure that this is the airport?" Katia quivered. Rafael nodded as they landed on top of one of the hangers and laid on their bellies to avoid being seen.

"Yes, I'm sure Katia. Look, that plane is loading up cages, we need to get a closer look." Rafael noted before flying down slowly and as stealthily as he could towards the runway. He motioned with his wings to move down next to him, so she followed his orders, however, she kept behind Rafael at all times. The two hooked a left so that no one could seem them from the cargo hold, then they flew over to the plane from above and they landed on top of it. While Katia listened to Marcel yell at his men once more form slow work, Rafael bent over the edge of the plane to peer into the cargo hold. Without sticking his entire head or beak into the hold, Rafael was able to quickly scope out the cargo hold before anyone saw him. He noticed Nigel was in the room, keeping an eye on the entire back of the plane. After the henchmen finished loading the cargo hold and started walking towards the cockpit, Rafael and Katia glided down near the hatch and glanced inside to see Nigel yawn and look inside to see if the doofus henchmen were in the cockpit yet. For some reason, Nigel groaned and opened the door to the cockpit. He was most likely checking on something with Marcel.

"Alright we sneak in now, You stay behind the last crates on the left, I'll go to the ones on the right." Rafael commanded confidently but quietly. Katia nodded and the two exotic birds crept into the plane. Both of them had to tell the birds in the cage to be quiet because they were starting to get rambunctious with the knowledge that someone is going to save them.

The cockatoo seemed ticked off now and he immediately shut the hatch after coming back into the cargo hold. Once the hatched closed, Katia and Rafael felt the plane move faster along the runway and then quickly shot up at an angle. This caused both of them to fall backwards and make a loud thump on the hatch. Nigel raised his "eyebrow" at the sound and decided to check out what was going on. Knowing that there was no escape, Rafael whispered a plan to the cage of small birds. Once Nigel made his way to the back to the plane, he turned to be greeted by the face of Katia.

"So you must be Nigel." She said in a condescending tone. Nigel Rubbed the tips of his feathers on his chest feathers as if he was flattered. The Spix macaw family, Nico, and Pedro heard the voice and were shocked. None of them could believe that she was on the plane. However, no one knew if she was a captive or she was going to be their heroine.

"Why yes my darling. But why are you on this plane. I don't want to hurt an innocent pretty face such as yourself."

"Is that so? So why would you hurt all the other pretty faces on this plane then? Does it help you cope with the fact that you are a washed up and trashy actor? Come on, you have to resort to selling our own kind to earn money. That's pathetic and disgusting. Maybe it's the shallow fact that you think you are ugly in comparison to us. Nigel, I'm sure you wouldn't appear ugly if your soul wasn't so repulsive." Katia insulted, trying her best to keep calm. "When I look at you, I see something pathetic and nasty. You make me want to throw up."

That was the last straw for Nigel. He was not going to stand around and let this random macaw insult him. He roared and started flying towards her, enraged. But once Nigel started flying towards Katia, Rafael, who he didn't notice, opened the cage he stood next to and yelled: "ATTACK!" As soon as the word formed, about seven or eight small round birds flew out and tackled Nigel to the ground in front of Katia. While they kept the cockatoo distracted, Katia and Rafael searched for their friends on the cargo plane. While they searched, they unlock a few of the cages and the birds threw the cages into the door so Marcel couldn't get to them. Nigel eventually broke free from the small birds and he flung each one of them into the walls of the plane. Katia was able to locate Nico and Pedro and Rafael was able to find Jewel.

"Alright you two gotta help us free everyone." Katia shouted, quickly glancing back every few seconds to make sure Nigel was occupied with other birds. Enraged, every bird that tried to help pin down Nigel was almost immediately flung off. Nigel even slammed a few birds into the walls of the plane as hard as he can. While Rafael was opening Jewel's cage, he couldn't help but realize that Nigel was a lot mroe angry than the last time they met. He gulped and he freed Jewel, but as soon as he moved the cage door open, he was tackled by the raging cockatoo.

"Meu amigo, você é um furioso muito desta vez!" Rafael grunted as he tried to pry off Nigel's talons from his neck, "You're surprisingly not as satirical as the first time we met."

Nigel gripped his hold tighter, causing Rafael to wince. "Listen you old big nose, I'm not letting you ruin this for me. You and your friends had me nearly killed last time we met, had my feathers ripped to shreds. I'd like to find some sort of way for revenge. But seeing as humble and noble you are, it looks like you'll be my practice dummy." He said sinisterly as he grit his beak. He then slid Rafael forcefully down the floor and he hit the piled cages with his head. Rafael, being slow to get up, got pounced once more by Nigel, but instead of trying to peel of Nigel's talons, he swung his beak so it made contact with the side of Nigel's face. It dazed the cockatoo and now Rafael tackled him to the ground.

While Jewel, Katia, Nico and Pedro finished freeing the some more birds, they kept an eye on Rafael. The aged toucan notice their concerned but he dismissed them by giving them another order.

"Hurry up and free the other birds! Then open the plane so we can get out of here. Don't worry about me, I'll take care of Nigel!" He shouted as he kept Nigel pinned down by holding his head and one of his feather down with his claws. Nigel shook fiercely then gripped Rafael's beak. The toucan's eyes widened and before he knew it, Nigel slid slightly forward then tried to spring himself back to his feet by kicking Rafael in the stomach. It did the trick, because it knocked the wind out of Rafael and he hobbled backwards. Nigel laughed as he charged once more towards Rafael, and he attempted to claw the surprisingly agile bird, who hopped backwards to avoid the attack. Unfortunately Nigel cut Rafael's stomach; however, Rafael was able to counteract by tackling him and ramming him into the piled cages by the cockpit door. The impact dazed Nigel and Rafael turned back to his friends to check on them.

Everyone was working together to get the numerous amounts of birds free, and then Blu flew up to the hatch switch and made he cargo door open. A warning light flashed inside the cockpit and Marcel turned around to see what was happening.

"What the? This can't be happening again!" He shouted as he saw the familiar sight. He sighed angrily and tried to open the door, and then proceeded to kick the door with his foot when he realized that it wouldn't budge due to all of the cages being in its way. "Well I guess the birds outsmarted us again. Might as well jump out now. I'm not going to get humiliated and even...beat up for not bringing the birds after I was paid in advance. I'll leave that punishment to my henchmen." Marcel admitted as he took a parachute and jumped out of the plane without the two henchmen knowing. When they realized that he was gone, they raced for the last parachutes and ended up sharing it as they too jumped out.

"Hey you still need to pay us!" The henchmen shouted as they deployed their parachute. Without anyone to pilot the aircraft, it slowly started to descend downwards.

Inside the cargo hold, Blu, Nico, and Pedro made sure all of the birds were able to fly out of the plane. When Blu reunited with Jewel and their kids, he told them to go on ahead and bring the kids to safety. Jewel nodded and she asked Nico, Pedro, and Katia to come with her and they all left together. Meanwhile, Rafael still had Nigel pinned against the cages.

"Desculpe meu amigo. You need to calm down and at least return to your less outraged-self. Besides, I need to get out of here now, Eva's probably having a hard time controlling our kids." Rafael laughed as he gave Nigel a strong right hook with his wing. Nigel, who was already dazed from the impact of slamming against the cages, fell unconscious after getting hit square in the face. After knocking out their enemy, Rafael motioned to Blu to fly out of the plane with him and they did so. However, after they had already started flying outside of the plane, Rafael turned around to see Nigel's limp body still inside the plane. Blu was able to read Rafael's mind like a book.

"You know, as the right to do, we need to go bring him down to the ground safely. Rafael, I'll help you bring him down." Blu said as he dashed back into the plane and grabbing Nigel by the body. He was definitely a lot heavier than Jewel when he had to carry her around when her wing was healing. "Nigel, you need to stop eating whatever it is you eat." Blu grunted as he tried to pick up Nigel.

"Let me help amigo. I'll stay under him and lift him up that way while you grab him like you are doing." Blu nodded to the plan and the two worked together as Rafael planned and were able to escape the descending plane. After flying back to the airport, Blu and Rafael placed Nigel down gently on the asphalt runway and they both let out a deep breath.

"Well, today was definitely exciting. I'm glad we made it through that." Blu muttered as he hovered in the air.

"Yep, well you know, we should probably go and meet up with the others now. So they don't think we had died honorably in the plane." Rafael said jokingly as he and Blu headed back home. Blu couldn't help but roll his eyes at his friend's comment.

"Come on know, we've been through this situation twice now, and I can fly this time, I'm sure there is no way we could've died." Blu retorted confidently, "But I gotta thank you Rafael for saving us."

"No problem amigo. Just remember to thank Katia too."

"I will as soon as I see her." Blu said sincerely

* * *

><p>Brann stood outside the hotel's back porch door, watching Dylan cook himself an egg for a late night snack. The military macaw chuckled as his owner's quirky choice for snack food. After letting his owner finish, Brann knocked on the glass doors by clacking his beak on it. Dylan turned to see his bird standing there, smiling back at him.<p>

"What's up my feathered friend?" He greeted as he slid the door open so Brann can walk into the hotel room. He shut it as soon as his parrot was in the room.

Brann squawked: "The ceiling" as his response. Dylan chuckled as he rolled his eyes playfully. He then turned on the small T.V. Brann stared at his owner concernedly. The day seemed to never end for either of them. 'Funeral's do that to people I guess...' Brann thought to himself. As soon as he thought of the funeral again, it seemed as if Dylan knew he was thinking about it, because his owner then started to well-up with tears.

"Brann...I can't believe he's gone..." He sobbed through sniffs. Dylan started to cry again for a few minutes. Brann landed on his shoulder and tied to console him, but there was no avail. Suddenly, Dylan's sadness turned into frustration. "I...I can't believe he's gone. Ah! I promised him! I promised him that I would be there by his side when it happened! I told him I would spend whatever I needed to just to see him before he passed, and I didn't even frikin do it!" He shouted as he stood up. Blinded by his frustration, Dylan flipped over the small table between the television and the couch and he then walked over to his suitcase and threw it at the wall across from it. Brann watched in terror as he saw his owner throw things out of anger. The military macaw had never seen his owner be this angry before. He knew that Dylan was rational, but this time he just snapped. Brann then heard random cuss words form from Dylan's mouth, which was sometimes a rarity too. Dylan then walked back to the couch and buried his head into his palms and cried loudly.

"Goddammit, why could I not have been there for my brother. He's always been here for me. I couldn't fulfill my promise...God how I wish money never interfered with my personal life." He muttered as he wiped the tears from his eyes. He let out a deep sigh and he turned to see Brann staring back at him. "I'm sorry you had to see that. It's just been a stressful day for me. I...I think I just need to lay down, clear my mind, and go to sleep." He said calmly as he got up and walked towards his bedroom. "Goodnight Brann."

"Goodnight." Brann said back to his owner solemnly as he laid down on the couch. He thought about his day as well and tried to clear his mind from any kind of stress. 'This is going to be a long, sleepless night then...' Brann admitted as he turned over on his side and closed his eyes and tried to rest.

Outside the hotel room, on the corner of the porch, hidden from the glass doors, sat a medium-sized brown bag. Inside the bag was a large sum of American money.

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Woo! Another long wait for an update, I apologize. Well anyways, this is like THE chapter were the main bulk of the story kicks in, and boy did I have fun writing this chapter too. It was a little strange that this chapter mainly revolved around Rafael and Katia, but hey, they were the heroes in this chapter. Nigel was definitely a lot darker in terms of morality, and before anyone pelts me for it, I explained that in the text myself. Nigel is going to be a little darker in this story, just a head's up. As usual, please review and if you spot any grammatical errors and such that I may have missed, please tell me in anyway so that I can fix it as soon as possible. Any constructive criticism is always welcome. <strong>

**BrokenMechanix out!**


	12. Plastic Money

**Chapter 12**

**Plastic Money**

Brann stretched and sat up on the couch which he had fallen asleep on. After rubbing his eyes, he noticed that Dylan was fixing everything that he had thrown the previous night out of frustration. The macaw sighed and still couldn't believe that incident actually happened. Dylan then walked to the kitchen area and pulled out two toaster waffles and handed one plate to Brann.

"Here you go Brann, sorry I couldn't make breakfast today, I didn't have the time to run to the grocery store yet. Plus it doesn't help if I can't exactly speak or read Portuguese fluently when picking out food stuff and going to the check out lines." Dylan chuckled as he folded his small waffle in half and took a bite from it. The two companions just ate and watched television for about an hour or so. Since the two woke up around noon that day, it was already one o' clock by the time they turned off the flickering box. "Well Brann, I hate to leave you hanging, but um...I gotta go talk to some guys that are going to help carry Nick's stuff out of his house, hopefully it goes to charity and such." He informed, petting Brann then opening the double doors to their deck so that Brann could fly around freely some more.

'I guess now's the time to show him then.' Brann thought as he stepped outside. Dylan shut the glass door and started to make his way out of his hotel room when Brann started to clack on the glass door. When Dylan turned around, he noticed that his bird had brought out a medium-sized brown sack/bag and put it right next to him. Curious, the young man opened the door, and Brann walked back inside, dragging the bag along the ground with him.

"What is that?" Dylan asked as he lifted the bag onto the table. He noticed that the bag was surprisingly heavy and he just stared at it inquisitively for a minute before peeking into the bag. Almost immediately after peering into the brown sack, Dylan jolted his body back away from the bag and formed a completely shocked face. He slowly leaned back towards the bag and he emptied it onto the table which it sat upon. There in front of both their eyes was about two and a half million dollars. Dylan accidentally yelled vulgar words from being overwhelmed by the large sum of cash that lied there in front of his face.

"Oh..oh my god Brann..." Dylan muttered as he tried to run his fingers through his hair. "Where the yell did you get all of this money?" Brann just stood there with a cocky, confident smug and he rubbed his chest with his wings as if retrieving the money was nothing special. Dylan just leaned back into the couch cushions, his exasperated expression unchanged. "Wow, this can get me out of all my finical problems..." He muttered, looking down at his feet while he contemplated, "This mean I'm rich then? No more stressing about money and crap. I don't have to live under constant stress anymore." He added, moving his head up to stare at the green American cash pile. Brann let out a large grin and glided up next to the pile and picked up a stack of money and started to play with it, brushing his feather on the top of each individual hundred dollar bill.

"What do ya think?" Brann chirped cheerfully, anticipating a rewarding, gleeful statement from his owner. Dylan's shocked face turned into a frown, and he scowled at the sight of the money.

"I want you to get rid of it. I want you to return it from where you got it Brann." He said solemnly, now targeting his eyes on his feathered pet. Brann's jaw dropped at the response.

"WHAT!" He squawked loudly and angrily, "WHY GET RID OF THE MONEY!"

"We don't need it that's why." Dylan answered back sternly. Brann just shook his head while retaining his expression. "Brann why did you get me this money anyways? Was it because we are having finical problems?" Dylan then leaned towards his avian friend and stared straight into his eyes. The leering made Brann uncomfortable and he tried not to peer back at his owner's eyes, but he knew he had to. However, Brann could not bear to make any response. Dylan just sighed and stood up and walked out onto the deck. "Come over here Brann, you need to see something."

Brann flew outside, joining his owner, and landed on the wooden railing. Dylan pointed out onto the streets of Rocinha to a street crowded with people. He purposely pointed out one of the worst looking streets on the block and when Brann squinted his eyes, he saw the crowd of Brazilians smiling and dancing without a care in the world. "Look at these locales Brann. They are so happy right now and look at their homes. I hate to say it but they live in a worse environment than us but yet they still manage to find happiness with their lives. Don't you think that's strange?" Dylan questioned as his eyes wandered over to his feathered companion.

"But...but...it's Carnaval..." Brann answered in a hushed tone. Dylan shook his head and continued to peer at the people below.

"That may be true buddy, and yeah everyone is always happy about Carnaval, but you're going to miss the point. I'm sure these Brazilians, even after Carnaval, are still quite content with their lives and still ease up on stressful things and enjoy life. Money is only a commodity Brann, and although not everyone in this area has money to live in the life of luxury, they probably realize that life isn't about being rich. _And that's how it should be for us too_. We need to care and think about our closest friends and family and not about stacks of green paper. And even if it's cheesy, money is not the key to happiness. Besides, I can't take this...uh...stolen money. Even if you were able to get it legally or steal it in such a clean way, I could never accept this. Why do you think I never accepted help with all our finances when Nick offered them to me? Because then I'm not achieving anything. You have to work hard to earn such money, even if its to pay a small fee. If I had let Nick pay for all my things because I was too incompetent for my, I would not be as independent and proud of myself. _I would never have felt like I earned it_. Not only that, but it hurts me to think that you of all people...er...birds doesn't have the trust, faith, or confidence in me to actually be able to pull us out of our finical situations. You had so little faith in me that you most likely did something illegal to get the money. With all this being said, I'm not livid with you, nor am I mad Brann; I'm just disappointed. So that's why I want you to return the money to wherever you got it from, okay?"

With the long lecture being over, Brann slowly nodded his head and gave Dylan a very apologetic look before going back into the hotel room and gathering the money bag into the sack he brought them in. Then he placed the heavy bag in his talons and flew out into the city, but tried to avoid eye contact with his owner. Dylan let out a long sigh and walked back inside, took the rental car's keys and walked out of the hotel room and into the parking lot.

* * *

><p>"Woo-hooooo! <em>Carnaval is in two days<em> Pedro!" Nico shouted at the top of his lungs as he bounced atop of his chubby cardinal friend that was still asleep. "And bro you need to wake up, it is already two o'clock!" Almost immediately afterwards, Pedro jolted up, which flung Nico across the hollow.

"Oh man I almost forgot! That's so awesome! I'm stoked Nico!" Pedro chuckled as he yawned. Then as he scratched his belly, the events from last night started to come back to him and caused the small creature to shudder and frown with deep sadness. Nico located his bottle-cap hat and put it back on his head and moved closer to Pedro.

"Hey what's wrong?" He asked concernedly. Pedro gulped and tried to open his beak, but no words formed. Eventually he figured out what to say.

"Nico...I wasn't able to get much sleep last night. Man I couldn't help but rewind back to that smuggling incident, I don't know, it just kinda scarred me this time, although there was nothing really jarring to it, just like the first time..." Pedro admitted and he slowly turned to look away from his friend in shame.

"Hey hey hey Pedro, it's okay. Look it's okay bro to feel this way. I understand that it was a rough night but you gotta try and let it go, because it's going to bring you down, and honestly, I can't stand to see you be down like this. It's just not you, ya know. Come on, let's go spread the news of Carnaval to our friends, I'm sure that'll cheer you up. Plus we gotta thank our birds in shining feathers right?" Nico said confidently as he gave Pedro a smirk. Pedro couldn't help but laugh and just as if nothing ever happened, Pedro started to act like his old, optimistic self once more.

* * *

><p>"So that's what happened last night?" Eva asked haphazardly as she looked upon her mate with a concerned look. Everyone had gathered up at Rafael's home to discuss the events of the previous evening while also taking the horrifying experience off of the blue macaw children's minds by letting them hang out and play with Rafael and Eva's offspring.<p>

"Yep, right down to the last detail." Blu answered as he took a quick peek at his mate's face. Jewel could only nod in response.

"Well at least you're safe Rafael. And its so great to see that everyone else is safe too and is doing fine and made it out okay." Eva added on before starting to eye her mate suggestively, "I guess that makes my juicy mango a hero then? That's very attractive." Rafael responded with a smug expression complete with a very sly smirk.

"I guess then I deserve a kiss from a beautiful princess then?" Rafael responded as he pulled Eva closer to him. Then the two started to kiss passionately in front of their friends. Katia and Jewel rolled their eyes playfully and chuckled together. After the two finished their intimate moment, Rafael turned back to the group and pointed to Katia. "This lady here though, in all seriousness, deserves most of this praise. Without her knowledge, we may never had made it back, and he is quite sassy in a fight and quick and smart on her talons."

Jewel then looked over to Katia and gave her a long friendly hug. "Sorry I never had the chance to thank you for saving us. Both of you guys. I don't know what would've happened without you guys showing up." Katia smiled back and blushed slightly under her feathers.

"Its not that big of a deal. I was just being a good friend and looking out after you guys. Same with Ralfy here." Katia said modestly.

"Come on don't be so modest Katia it was totally great and-" Blu started to praise before the yelling from Nico and Pedro interjected with his comment. Everyone stared at the two small birds as the flew down to meet up with the rest of the cast, still very excited about the Carnaval festival. As the two performers got smothered with love from the young children, they started to exclaim about how Carnaval is in two days.

"I can't wait, it's killing me!" Pedro shouted as he gave one of Rafael's kids a nookie.

"Yeah same here." Nico added as he put his bottle-cap on top of Cobalt's head.

Rafael and Blu looked at their respective mates with love. Eva and Jewel looked at their mates lovingly as well. Katia switched glances back and forth between the two couples confusedly.

"Ah Carnaval, that magical time where I met the most beautiful girl in the world." Blu said sweetly to Jewel. Rafael gave Blu a glare but then sighed in defeat.

"I guess you stole the words right out of my mouth amigo."

Katia, Nico, and Pedro chuckled and tried to move the conversation forward. "so you guys got anything planned then?" Katia asked the singing bird duo as they shook off the last of the kids.

"Uh we're not to solid on anything just yet, but I believe we're going to have this huge performance at The Canopy." Nico answered as he adjusted his bottle-cap back on his head.

"Yeah and of course we have to hit the parade." Pedro added on as he messed up Nico's hat right as he finished adjusting it.

"Well I hope nothing bad happens this year. I'd actually like to spend Carnaval with my friends and family...in peace." Jewel chuckled in a solemn tone. Blu laughed and added on to her comment.

"Stupid Nigel ha ha."

* * *

><p>Brann flew down to a tiny isolated shack-like home in the ghetto, Cidade de Deus. This is where Nigel said the smuggler's new hideout was located, and fortunately, Brann did find it without hesitation. The military macaw found an opening in the front door and nudged it opened then proceeded to fly into the home. Strangely enough, no humans where in the building, and it made the avian a little nervous. Building up his confidence again, he called for Nigel. There was no response. So in return, Brann started to shout Nigel's name. This time, the cockatoo flew out from another room to meet with Brann.<p>

"Oh well hi there my friend, what's brings you over this fine evening?" Nigel greeted in an eerily monotonous voice. Brann glared right at him before tossing the bags of American cash right in front of him.

"There, take it back. I don't want it anymore, I don't need it." Brann said, mimicking the tone Nigel had. The cockatoo inspected the insides of the sacks and then returned his gaze upon the macaw.

"Hm well this is interesting. You don't want this money anymore huh? After all the serious stuff you sobbed about. I gave you a high paying task and you seemed really pleased about that, then you immediately turned around and realized it was not what you wanted? What a pity..." Nigel laughed manically. "But hey it was a good thing you surrendered the money Brann. I was actually about to come over and ask for it back."

"What?" Brann stepped back slowly, as he tilted his head with a serious, yet confused look plastered on his face.

"That's right, I needed the money back. You know why? Because those damn birds escaped again! Marcel had to pay the price this time too. Since we were paid upfront, Marcel had to return all the money to his payer in America, but instead, that payer came over here to Brazil and beat him to a pulp for not having all of the money. Or that's what I've heard at least. Point is birdie, you failed to do your job." Nigel explained as he walked closer to Brann. The macaw then frowned at the angry cockatoo and shoved him away.

"Look I'm really sorry about Marcel and everything, but you only told me to catch the birds. If it was my responsibility to make sure they made it across the border, then I would've been on the plane. Letting them slip was_ your fault Nigel, not mine_, and with that being said,_ I'm done_ with this crap." Brann retorted in a deep tone before he started to glide out to the front door. Just as he approached the doorway, Nigel pounced on top of him and gripped his throat tightly.

"Now you listen here Brann. _You are not done_. You will not be done until I get what I want and until I say so. Sure this money is going to help Marcel out of his beatings but since these birds are getting really elusive, we have some higher bidders now. And you're going to recapture those cerulean menaces." Nigel said through an angrily clenched beak.

"Look I told you already, I'm doing it for money anymore!" Brann yelled as he quickly got up and shook off the violent cockatoo.

"Do I care what you're doing this job for? Now it seems like I need to beat some sense into you first before you even get started. You need the extra pep talk." Nigel now started to exhale heavily and grit his beak with much force. He then charged straight at Brann. He tackled the bird and then slashed the macaws stomach with his talons. However, right before the talons made contact, Brann sucked in his stomach and quickly flapped his wings to slide out just slightly so the talons only made small cuts. Then as he got his wings free he threw a right hook with his wing while Nigel did the same. Both made contact and Nigel, dazed, tried to quickly retreat back, but before he could, Brann gripped Nigel's chest with his own claws and Nigel actually pulled the macaw with him. Then Brann connected two more hooks then headbutt the already dazed cockatoo. Nigel, being stunned, was unable to predict that Brann reversed the tides by flipping over Nigel in the air then dive-bombing him straight into the ground. Afterwards, Brann wrapped his claws around Nigel one more time, picked him up by hovering, then body-slammed him then he clenched the beaten cockatoo with one claw and slid him away from him.

"Oh...man...God...where did you learn to fight like that? That's not natural for a bird to use human-like moves to fight." Nigel coughed as he grimaced and winced from all the pain he just received.

"Now you know that I'm for certain out of your little smuggling game." Brann said in a deep monotonous voice as he started to trot towards the door.

"Oh but on the contrary. You are still going to work for me."

"Oh really? I mean, you are a strong bird and all, but after that display, you know whats coming. So who's gonna force me Nigel? Huh? Definitely not you." Brann snapped back. Then right as he finished his sentence, another bird, who was quite bigger than the two, waddled into the room and chuckled evilly. Brann turned around to see who it was and the face he saw completely shocked him.

"I think that job is for me Brann, ol' buddy." A familiar golden eagle said deeply in a snicker.

"Pa...Pa...Payton?" Brann grasped from both shock and fear. He could tell something was different with his old 'enemy.' Brann glanced down at took notice of a weird tag that was now on his right leg. "How did you even get over here to Brazil?"

"Hm or is it...Jax?" Payton wondered, completely dodging the original question. However, the eagle could sense the way Brann talked and decided to comment on it. "What you're not happy to see me again? And what a strange way to act, it's like you actually fear me again. Actually you've always feared me, what am I saying. Since you were little I could eat my way into your weak little soul and tear it. You just act tough nowadays around the likes of your friends. You are still one of the weakest and fragile birds I've ever met."

Suddenly something inside the military macaw cracked and he charged straight at Payton.

"Screw you Payton!" Brann exclaimed as he rushed. However, as he tried to claw at his face upon being in the eagle's radius, Payton was quickly able to grab Brann's claws and keep him hovering right in front of him.

"Bad move buddy. Let's see now, This is the fourth time you've challenged me and now the fourth time you've lost. I gotta hand it to you though, with all that odd unorthodox training you gave yourself, it really inspired me to use some of those moves and coincide them with my normal fighting instincts." Payton shrugged as he continued by kneeing the flailing bird forcefully in the stomach. Brann coughed and winced and then Payton hit him over and over again. After about four hits, Payton hovered up and attempted to claw Brann's face. The first strike missed, but the second claw actually cut Brann's stomach. Fortunately the lacerations were only minor. Stumbling back, Payton finished off the assault by shoving Brann to the ground. Nigel, still laying down, was watching in content as he saw Payton terrifying the smaller bird. Payton approached the quaking bird and grasped him by the throat and brought his face close.

"Alright listen up Brann, this is no longer a game. You are going to recapture those damn birds for that kind Nigel over there who you just mercilessly pummeled. And I am going to help you with this, got it. I know that in the past I bullied you and even beat you up a few times, but we're not in Mills anymore. You will do what Nigel says or else I won't be beating you up this time..._I'll kill you_."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: OMG! It's finally here after three long months. I just wanna let the people who actually read and keep up with this story to know that I'm really, truly, and sincerely sorry for such a long hiatus. It's been too busy for me lately and I've had to focus on nothing but my college courses and work 24/7. So I hope that any readers aren't too upset. I'm also sorry if this chapter is a little shorter than normal or if it's not up to standard since it's been a while since I've worked on the story. Hopefully you guys were satisfied and I'm going to try to avoid doing another 3-month hiatus thing again and try to fit time into writing this story once more so that there is more stuff finally getting put out. So as normal, I'd like some feedback and reviews from you and I'll take any constructive criticism or if you spot any grammar mistakes, please let me know so I can fix them. Until next time:  
><strong>

**~BrokenMechanix out, and btw: Happy New Years!  
><strong>


	13. Burden In My Hand

**Chapter 13**

**Burden In My Hand**

"Gah what the hell Brann..." Dylan sighed as he unlocked the rental car and got it. He put the keys in the ignition slowly and turned the keys to start the vehicle. "Man what a way to start the day. That was some crazy shi-" All of a sudden, Dylan's cellphone started to ring. It was Linda. "Hey Linda, what's up?" Dylan greeted as he held the phone up to his ear while looking over his shoulder to back out of his parking space.

"Oh it's pretty good, business was pretty busy this morning surprisingly. Gotta love those early morning birds." Linda joked on her end of the line.

"Hehe funny." Dylan chuckled quietly as he started to make his way off the hotel's lot. "So where's Tulio?"

"At the sanctuary. He might come back home from work a little early today though." Linda informed in a polite tone. Dylan learned that Linda and Tulio owned the Blue Bird Sanctuary when they first met at the restaurant. He found this intriguing since he had once seen the sanctuary on a Discovery Channel special on the rare blue macaws, and now he was quickly becoming friends with its owners.

"Oh hey Dylan, didn't you say you were going to go up to your brother's house to meet some movers?" Linda asked curiously as she paced around the bookstore.

"Yeah. I'm actually headed there right now. I'm gonna move out some stuff so the home can be placed on the market."

"Oh...why don't you just move into the house?" Linda wondered in a puzzled tone.

"I can't afford the home." Dylan muttered in a near whisper. Linda could only mutter an "oh" from his response. "So why did you ask your original question?" Dylan questioned teasingly.

"Well I just wanted to have an excuse to go see your brother's home. You did give me the address by the way. But it was mainly because I wanted to help with the moving." Linda admitted confidently. Dylan got caught off guard a little bit by her response. 'A woman that wants to help move? I hate to be sexist but damn, this is a first ha ha. Oh well, the movers probably don't mind another hand on board' Dylan thought to himself as he executed a turn.

"Yeah you can come along if you want." Dylan said cheerfully. Linda smiled on her side of the phone call and then checked the address of the home.

"Okay. Well I'll be there a bit later, I have to do some things at the bookstore first." And after some conclusion comments, both people hung up the phone.

* * *

><p>Dylan arrived at his brother Nick's home. Expecting to see a moving fan and a handful of people already at his doorstep, what Dylan say as he pulled up to the driveway was a major surprise. There in his driveway was the young man Marquis, the Brazilian idol he met from the music store. As he parked, Dylan eyed him and raised an eyebrow. Once Dylan got out of the car, Marquis shouted his greetings.<p>

"Dylan Jackson! How are you?" He shouted excitedly as he gave a handshake to the fellow musician.

"Pretty...um...solid for the most part." Dylan lied, trying his best to smile. "So what brings you here...uh...Marquis right?"

"Yep. Marquis Richard Centeno. I'm here to talk to you about something. I want you to-"

"Hey how did you even find this place? I never gave you any directions or addresses, or even my phone number. Further more, where's the movers and how did you even know I was going to be here?" Dylan interrupted rudely, questioning Marquis with a raised eyebrow.

"I find my ways Mr. Jackson. And for the movers, I asked them if this is were you were going to be, and then I dismissed them for a later day because I want to talk to you only, not some rabid fans." Dylan seemed content with the response and nodded his head in agreement.

"Awesome ha ha. Oh and you can just call me Dylan. So what were you saying now Marquis?"

"Okay, well you see, when I saw you at that music store, you were...were amazing. You are the exact person I'm looking for. If you don't know, I'm hosting my own float and act for the Carnaval parade this year. There is going to be some dancing and all but most importantly is the crunching drum line I'm having." Marquis explained, making many hand gestures as he talked about his float, "This is my first year doing this by the way!" He finished with a confident smile.

"So where do I fit in with all of this?" Dylan asked curiously, not really too impressed. He figured being a part of the drum line meant being in the middle of it. He got a no for a response.

"You see, what I want to do is have this drum line play along to some samba, but then on the top of the float there is going to be a person doing a drum solo. _I want you to be that person. I want you to play the drum solo for the parade._ I know you can pull it off Dylan."

Dylan's heart sank, but from shock. 'Is this for real? I cannot believe it...' Dylan thought to himself, trying not to burst from pure and sheer joy. Finally, someone has seen the true raw talent that Dylan had. All the years of rigor and passion that Dylan poured into his drumming had finally paid off.

"So what do you say then?" Marquis asked kindly, holding out his hand for a shake.

"Hell yeah. I'll do it." Dylan smirked as he shook Marquis's hand to seal the deal. The Brazilian musician cheered and put on some sunglasses, which he had concealed in his back pockets. His expression then turned into a slightly sour and worried one.

"Um Dylan?" He muttered. Just as he got the young man's attention, Linda pulled up to the home and parked her car. She laid eyes on Marquis and tried not to screech excitedly. Instead, Linda got out and approached him in a professional manner, greeting him politely with a handshake. Marquis obliged and smiled at her. "I think I remember you. This excellent young drummer right here is your friend right?"

"Mhm." Linda said with a nod.

"You then have one helluva friend." Marquis then shifted his attention to Dylan, "Alright then Dylan. This next piece of info may concern you and hopefully you don't drop the deal, but Carnaval is in two days. That's how long you have to memorize and learn your part and be in sync with everyone. Uh...Come to the Copacabana beach tonight at about four o'clock for practice, okay? I got to go now, I'll see you two around." Marquis informed as her slowly got into his sports car. Before leaving the lot, he waved good bye to Linda and Dylan, and while Linda retained her cool and waved back, Dylan was still in complete shock. However, his cocky side came up when he decided to say a comment to himself:

"Two days? Bring it on." Despite being so confident with his words, Dylan felt a sudden jolt of fear and realization travel up his spine and attack his brain. He was actually nervous and worried. He even felt a little tremor in his hands due to this. Luckily, it stopped very quickly once Linda decided to finally say something to Dylan.

"So hey Dylan, what exactly did a famous samba and bossa nova musician want with you? I don't I caught any hints he gave you just now when I arrived..." Linda asked curiously, a little embarrassed that she wasn't able to pick up on anything Marquis said to Dylan whatsoever. The young man took his tattooed arm as started to rub the back of his neck as he contemplated an answer.

"Well I think I'm going to to tell you later. When Tulio comes back from work." Dylan responded with a slight smile.

"Hm okay then. I guess since that there is no moving today that I should go back to the bookstore and open up again for the rest of the day then." Linda said as she walked back towards her vehicle.

"Okay then. I better go anyways, I have to meet up with Marquis in about an hour or two. I'll meet up with you later Linda." Dylan replied as he enter his own vehicle as well. Linda smiled and nodded. "Take care in the meantime.

"Will do." with the goodbyes said, the two left the driveway of Nick's house and went their own separate directions.

* * *

><p>"I feel like that name is similar. I'd check near the Sugarloaf mountains perhaps, I think a Wyatt lives there. However, your description of him is weird. I don't think I've ever seen a military macaw with red feather tips on their wings. I mean its already strange enough to see that your red feathers atop your head extend to a point on your neck. its just a rare thing you know? Eu sou desculpe amigo. Espero que você encontre seu irmão." A young female scarlet macaw informed to Brann. His shoulders sulked a little but he kept his head held high.<p>

"Bem, obrigado de qualquer maneira. Você tem um bom dia." Brann exhaled solemnly as he flew towards the Sugarloaf mountains. He finally got a good lead to find his brother. Brann was starting to get excited. After a thirty minute flight to his destination, he spent the next hour and a half talking to random birds, asking if they knew anything about his brother Wyatt. He asked if a Wyatt lived around the area, hoping to finally get some positive feedback. Those hopes had to sink right back into the bottom of his heart because no bird in the vicinity knew an avian named Wyatt. Brann couldn't help but let out a sigh as he flew down to the ground and started to trot around. Whilst walking, he took out the iPod he had strapped to his chest and changed the song to something heavy to release some of his tension. He blasted the music and then put the headphones on, the result ended up with Brann growling and clenching his beak. With his beak still tightly clenched together, he marched along the dirt ground in search of some familiar, land-dwelling, acquaintances he knew in this area: Mauro and his band of Marmosets.

After a good day of stealing from the humans, the marmosets that participated in the thieving were held up in the jungle near the tourist hot spot which the cable cars dropped them off from. What were they doing exactly? Well they did nothing else but party! Marmosets with aviators, women's glasses, wristbands, bracelets, watches; you name it and it was probably on one of the tiny monkeys. The relatively large group of mammalian creatures were enjoying themselves with dances and random electronics when the familiar angry military macaw stomped in. The leader of the marmosets, Mauro, approached Brann the moment the group laid eyes on him.

"Oh hi there. I didn't expect to see your face around here again Brann." Mauro scowled as he kept inching towards the bird. Although Mauro had many followers, nearly all the marmosets froze in position, the only ones that moved paced themselves farther back.

Brann started to snicker with a slight lopsided smirk. He then narrowed his eyes and loomed over the smaller animal. Brann then opened his beak to speak mockingly: "Nice to see you little ape sh-"

"What do you want parrot?" Mauro cut off in a serious tone. He did not bat his eyes once, but stared up into the macaw's own glare as straight-faced as possible. Mauro called out Brann little charade and the two animals in deadlock just eased up on their tensions. "We are not going to do any more of you or that stupid white bird's favors anymore. You or him can give us 'flying lessons' I don't care anymore."

"There is no way to instill fear in you guys any more. Damn. You guys are getting tough." Brann chuckled in a trailing progression. "But no that is not why I am here. We do not need your help anymore. Our plan for me to lead the blue birds to the fruit market for you guys to launch a surprise attack worked out, but everyone escaped during their flight. Nigel has had enough of this. He...well I guess...hired someone else to do this dirty work." Brann informed, pursing his beak a little bit after each sentence.

"Wait you mean Nigel fired you?" Mauro teased as he let out an obnoxious laugh. Brann rolled his eyes.

"No. I still work for him." Brann gulped when he tried to form the word 'work.'

"I see. I assume the price is rising on those blue macaws right? They are pretty darn elusive. Humans gotta be paying in some sweet amounts of gold stuff." Mauro daydreamed while widening his eyes. He made a little bit of drool form out of his open mouth at the sheer thought of all the gold objects that he could own. He then shook free of his trance. "Well anyways, you said this smuggling businesses was not why you came here for, correct?"

"Yes. I came here to see if my brother Wyatt has been seen around here at all. He looks just like me except without the red head feathers running down to his neck like me. Instead he has red feather tips on his wings instead of blue." Brann admitted monotonously, trying his best not to reveal a frown. His first response was a bunch of laughter from the marmosets.

"Brann, you must be one failure. I mean you captured the macaws then they got away. And now you can't find your brother. What do you need to find him so he can kiss your boo-boo from Nigel?" Mauro teased as he pointed and laughted even more at the already angered bird. Brann grit his beak and clenched his claw containing the iPod, but still managed to keep cool.

"So what if I do huh? I just want a damn answer!" Then Brann pondered on what Mauro said. "Wait, um how did you know that me and Nigel fought?"

"Word travels fast." Mauro replied contently, "We heard everything pretty much. Nigel's owner got beat up, Nigel hired some American eagle to do the job and blah blah blah whatever else happened. The only thing we didn't hear about was if you were still associated with all this. But anyways enough stalling about your brother. I'll put it bluntly: No we have not seen anyone that looks like that anyway in the Sugarloaf area."

"Thank you. You could've told me that originally..." Brann trailed off again, this time his solid, sturdy expression faded into a mix of anger and hopelessness. He quickly turned away from the monkeys and switched songs on his iPod before lifting himself up in the air.

"Oh yeah by the way 'Green,' nice headphones." Mauro mocked one last time, and a sarcastic emphasis on his voice, "If you want better stuff, maybe we should give to you. You seem to have a hard time getting good things anyways." Brann shook his head and sighed. He disregarded the comment entirely and took towards the sky.

* * *

><p><strong>At the Copacabana<strong>

Dylan pulled his car up into an empty parallel parking spot near the shore of the beach. He was not a minute late, in fact, he was rather early. Dylan stared into the distance and saw a choreographer directing all the dancers that were both on and off a stationary wooden stage, meant to represent a float. In front of these dancers were a bunch of marching drummers, playing a drum line. Interestingly enough, the beach was empty, not a single person other than the performers were out on the sands. As Dylan stepped out of the car, Marquis jumped out and scared Dylan with a loud welcoming. After regaining composure, Dylan shook Marquis's hand and surprisingly enough, the samba musician handed him a small packet of music.

"This is the solo that you gotta learn. I'll let you sit down with it and read over it for about an hour. Then maybe you'll be able to jump on that stage thing over there and practice with us. Oh and one last note, it is a solo, so you can change up things and be as creative as you'd like, just try to stay in the boundaries of this style of music here though." Marquis noted in a very professional tone, jabbing his index finger into the packet which was in Dylan's hands. With a nod, Dylan went off with the famous musician to the performers and while Marquis went to huddle up with everyone, Dylan sat down on the stage and studied the sheet music very intently. After an hour or so of listening and watching the performers run through their routine, Dylan decided to try out the solo for the first time. Marquis gulped and crossed his fingers, praying to God that he had found the right person.

The song started and the performers started their routine without the guidance of the choreographer. Marquis stood on the side of the stage tuning both an acoustic and electric guitar while taking quick glances at the practice to see how everyone was coping. So far so good. Dylan played his drum part like it had said in the packet, mimicking the marching drummers part. He did so flawlessly, but then it got to the solo part. Marquis put down the guitar and shifted his gaze to Dylan as he started his solo. After a few powerful stomps and hits on the floor tom and bass drum provided, Dylan started to let his wrists go to work. He played one quick double triplet fill across the whole drum rack then started a standard samba beat. A minute had passed and the beat started to pick up tempo faster and faster until eventually everyone else just stopped except for Dylan, who then broke off into a flare of fast rolls and mixed in ride bell, hi-hat, china, and crash hits for extra crunch and skill. All this while maintain a constant beat on the bass drum and still pertaining to the fast samba style. Then he lessened the flare and died back down to a constant hi-hat pedal, bass pattern, and ride and floor tom hits. Then the marching drummers went back into the song, helping accent each snare hit by hitting the each same time Dylan hit his snare. This Dylan brought back up the complexity and played the solo to match again, note-for-note, what was written on his sheet music. Then he stopped his solo and everyone turned around and started cheering and clapping.

Marquis hopped onto the stage and bro-hugged Dylan. "That was intense! And I see you took my advice and added a little rockish-style to the beginning! Very nice. I liked all of it, your stuff, the samba stuff, it was brilliant! I can't even believe you picked this hard solo within the first hour of reading and playing it! I knew I saw true talent in you Dylan!" Marquis exclaimed in a hyper fashion. He then turned around to all the other performers and planners. "Amazing job today guys! Everyone is dismissed. We'll meet here tomorrow!" Dylan wondered why Marquis chose to have practice on the beach but decided that he wouldn't bring it up.

Dylan decided to help pack up some of the instruments with Marquis. The two chatted for a little bit and got to know each other a little better. Before getting to the drum equipment, Dylan sat back down on the throne and asked Marquis: "So I hear you are a good guitar player. Mind if I hear?"

With a nod, Marquis took out his electric guitar and just played it acoustically. He played a bossa nova rhythm that was a little complex, but still was a little simple. After the little solo, Marquis looked up at Dylan.

"You know, I've noticed you have a big rock and metal style to your drums. With that being said, I want to tell you something." Marquis started as he stared down at the fretboard of his guitar and randomly picked strings, "I may be a samba musician, but as a child, I've always listened to rock and metal music. To be honest, that is where my heart resides. I love playing metal and samba. Samba is more for my homeland here and metal is more for fun..."

"I thought Brazil's second favorite genre of music was rock and metal." Dylan said quizzically.

"That's actually true. We Brazilians are actually big with metal groups believe it or not. Metallica, Iron Maiden, all that good stuff." With that response, Dylan gave back an approving head nod and a evil-like grin.

"Hell yeah! You actually listen to awesome music. Do you know anything good?" Dylan asked. Without a word, Marquis walked up to the last amp and mixer that was sitting in the corner of the stage and plugged the guitar into the amp. He adjusted a few dials on the guitar and amp and started to shred a solo that struck Dylan's memory.

"That's The Prince beginning solo! Play up to Kirk Hammett's speed!" He shouted, obviously impressed. Marquis nodded and smiled.

"Oh yeah. And Lemme play my favorite riff too." Marquis then played the fast and iconic riff of Holy Wars. Dylan's jaw dropped, but then he immediately snapped out of his amazement and started to play with the guitarist. The two were headbanging and enjoying themselves. Dylan looked up and saw Marquis singing, but could see his lips move, due to the lack of a microphone. He could faintly hear his voice when the song got to the slower part. Eventually it came back up to the original tempo and kicked off with a few pinch harmonics then straight into a blazing fast solo. With only strumming techniques, Dylan listened and watched as both of Marquis's hands and fingers went at an incredibly fast speed. Due to sheer amazement, Dylan stopped in the middle of the solo. After the solo Marquis turned around to Dylan.

"Why did you stop?" He asked confused.

"'Cause that was badass!" Dylan cheered as he stood from the drum throne.

"Why thanks. You were great too. I guess we make a good team." Marquis chuckled.

"Yeah. I miss playing music like that with my old band." Dylan said in a trance of reminiscence.

"Oh you played in a band?" Marquis asked intrigued.

"Yeah, one with two high school friends. We played together for like...well..forever, but college plans and such got in the way. We were actually known in our community, but we never hit it off. Anyways, you would've fit in really well Marquis." Dylan explained briefly. Marquis nodded as the two went back to packing up the remaining equipment. The Brazilian musician suddenly got deep into thought about what Dylan had just told him. After about another thirty minutes, the two finished packing everyting up and the two said their goodbyes and Dylan promised to meet back at the exact same place the following day.

After leaving the beach, Dylan couldn't help but call his old pals in California to tell them the news. He tried to keep his excitement contain because he didn't want to crash the car on the way to Linda's house.

Unfortunately, not everyone was feeling really upbeat today...

* * *

><p><strong>A.N: Hello readers! How's it been! Thanks for reading and I hope you guys are still not mad at me for my last late update. It was uncalled for but the past months were truly hard on me. Lots of work. Anyways, this time I update MUCH MUCH sooner haha than last time. Moving on to the story, I think it was time to give Dylan a spotlight for once ;) He deserves it. If anyone wants to see what I kinda was think for the samba part of his solo you can take a look at these two videos: (.comwatch?v=uqjgkWT4iQk) and ****(.com/watch?v=Gzz1rrYuVos&feature=related)** **except with more fills and less breaks. But anyways as usual, tell me what you thought in a review, and if you see any mistakes, please notify me, so I can fix them. I was writing this chapter really late so yeah XD. But yeah thanks for reading!**

**~BrokenMechanix out**


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